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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25098259">Worlds Apart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blu_Crowe/pseuds/Blu_Crowe'>Blu_Crowe</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Bottom Derek Hale, Bottom Stiles Stilinski, Canon Compliant, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Emissary Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multiple Universes Colliding, Nemeton, Post-Nogitsune Stiles Stilinski, Spark Stiles Stilinski, Top Derek, Top Stiles Stilinski, Torture</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:06:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>48,748</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25098259</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blu_Crowe/pseuds/Blu_Crowe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles finds himself in a world that is not at all like the one he came from. Some people are alive still, but none of them know him. Thank God Scott does. Way to go other Stiles, because no version of him should be without a Scott.</p>
<p>Derek saves Stiles from the witches, except, this isn't his Stiles. This harsh, gun toting Stiles doesn't even know his name. That doesn't excuse shooting him while he was just trying to help!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin/Jackson Whittemore, Scott McCall/Malia Tate, Vernon Boyd/Erica Reyes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>145</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>There is some blood in here, rune scaring, and other stuff, you've been warned.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Oh yeah, Stiles' eighteenth birthday was going to be so awesome! He had booze, he had Scott and the pack coming, and best of all he had a huge grimoire as the best birthday present ever from Deaton. Derek had promised to do his first rune before the party. He tightened the belt that came with the book, which totally made him look like a bad ass wizard, or a total nerd, depending who you asked. Either way the belt was part of the deal, losing the book would mean he'd never see another page of magic again.<br/>
"You're early." Derek looked up from where he sat, not at all menacing, while he sharpened a small blade with black roots twisted into the handle. It kind of looked like a sharply angled spear head.<br/>
"That is a big knife for, you know, my fragile skin. I kind of thought it would be more of an exacto blade sort of thing, or better yet, a sort of all at once stamp kind of thing, with the not slicing me open with a huge knife." Stiles scuffed his sneakers against the cold cement of Derek's apartment. He had never wished Derek had more interesting furnishings in his life.<br/>
"It's an athame. Runes have to be carved with one. It's meant for you to keep. Sharper than any exacto blade." Derek twisted the blade in his hand, to pass it to him by the handle. He hadn't expected it to be so smooth. It felt right in his hand, as if it belonged there, humming with magic the same way mountain ash did.<br/>
"You got me a birthday present?" Stiles grinned, the metal caught the dim light of his apartment, sending a sliver of radiance dancing over Derek's hard features.<br/>
"No. You asked for it." Derek handed him a worn leather sheath that fit the blade.<br/>
"Okay sour wolf. This is the one I want first, and I totally wouldn't have asked if I could, you know, carve it into my own chest. I mean, me and blood are not the best of bedfellows, but I think I could handle that part. The whole pain thing, I don't know, prohibit so much, bonus points for difficulty too, because of the whole backwards on my chest thing. Man this is going to suck isn't it?" Stiles put the grimoire on the coffee table, his mouth felt bone dry all of a sudden. Stiles fidgeted with his belt to add the sheath, standing by the end of Derek's couch. Derek already had a large grey towel set out on the empty space.<br/>
"Yes, now sit." Derek took the knife back from Stiles hand, his calloused fingers seared into his skin where they touched.<br/>
"You know, your bedside manner could use a little work. I'm kind of freaking out here." Stiles tripped over his own feet on his way around to the towel. Derek grabbed him by the back of the neck, dropping him in place on the couch.<br/>
"If you don't want me to do this I won't." Derek's voice dropped to something almost soft, it took Stiles a bit by surprise. His hazel eyes tracked his features carefully, his head cocked to the side, clearly listening to his heart rate.<br/>
"No, come on. I want this. Magic isn't meant to be easy. I'd rather pay the cost in blood than what some spells take. I can do this, it's just gonna suck so much to have done." Stiles fumbled to pull his shirt over his head, catching it on his head. He twisted awkwardly, stretching the fabric to free himself. Derek opened a med kit still wrapped in plastic, he set out the bandages, and everything else before he knelt in front of Stiles.<br/>
"It won't hurt until after, so try not to tense." Derek laid on hand over his chest, drawing the symbol on in marker first. Stiles looked over his shoulder at Derek's desk to try and ignore the intimacy of it all. He knew Derek could hear his heart, but he hoped it would be written off as his nerves.<br/>
"So, um, I know you're not a huge fan of magic, or me, or idle chit chat, so why are you doing, oh, wow it cold, but like not painful. Right, no, yeah, it probably hurts you. Sorry. Why are you doing this for me?" Stiles looked down at Derek's hand, splayed got across his chest, black veins creeping up towards his elbow. The tension in his muscles captivated him.<br/>
"I can handle pain." Derek hardly sounded strained, Stiles was pretty sure he would be crying like a very manly baby already.<br/>
"I mean yeah, clearly, it's not like you haven't said that a million times or anything, but it doesn't actually answer the question." Stiles made the mistake of looking down at the rune Derek quickly carved into him.<br/>
"You asked." Derek set the blade aside, pulling a corner of the towel up to dab the blood off his chest gently. The soft fibers stained, soaking through until the red stuck to Derek's fingers. He folded it back, careful not to get it on his couch.<br/>
"Oh, hey, that is my blood, a lot of my blood. Wow, yeah, don't look at it, passing out would be way pathetic." Stiles looked up at the ceiling, counting to four as he breathed in, and then out agan.<br/>
"Would make my job easier." Derek mumbled, Stiles blew a raspberry into the air.<br/>
"Please, you would so miss my witty banter if I passed out. Not to mention, I'm officially legal now, who knows what my luscious body would tempt you to do if I were all half naked, and vulnerable." Stiles winked at him, Derek scoffed, pointedly ignoring him. Stiles chanced another look down, the rune already looked close to done, but also gruesome.<br/>
"Calm down. I'm done." Derek wiped the blood from his chest, cleaning it out, and tilting him forward to bandage the wound.<br/>
"You did that super fast." Stiles touched the clean white bandage. Ah, there was the pain, it flashed white hot when Derek let go of him to clean up.<br/>
"That is the point. It should heal by morning." Derek cleaned the blade with the ruined towel, handing it back to Stiles. His hands shook when he took the athame, it took two tries to slip it into the sheath.<br/>
"Really? Like a wolf? Is it the magic? That's kind of awesome!" Derek nodded, setting his hand on the small of Stiles' back. Stiles tucked the grimoire back into his belt pouch carefully.<br/>
"You should get to your party. Scott, or one of the pack can keep an eye on your pain." The pain melted away as soon as Derek touched him. For a growly fella, he sure was considerate.<br/>
"You could come. I've only invited you four times." Stiles clutched his shirt in one hand, not sure he was entirely ready to put it on again.<br/>
"I don't do parties." Derek held the door open for him, still nothing but scowls. Stiles sighed, twisting his shirt nervously.<br/>
"Okay, well, think about it. It's not the same without the whole pack." Stiles ducked out the door, trying not to let Derek see him blush.<br/>
" Stiles. " Derek whispered as the elevator doors opened. He looked back with his mouth half open in confusion. "Happy birthday." The elevator doors closed on them. He could have sworn he saw Derek smile. Not grin, or anything, but still, an actual real smile. Oh yeah, best birthday ever, and it had hardly started.<br/>
"Hey, I am on the way Scott,  kick ass new rune in tow. It stings like a bastard though, so I hope you're already at the lake." Stiles fumbled with his phone and his keys while he made his way to his Jeep.<br/>
"Okay, don't be mad, but we're kind of dealing with a rogue witch situation. Two of them, they smell like family. They took Lydia's blood. Deaton thinks it might be for some kind of spell, Banshee blood is supposed to be part of like a bunch of death magic." Scott said , he could practically hear the guilt dripping from his voice.<br/>
"Of course we are, what kind of birthday would it be without life threatening high-jinx. Do we have any idea where they are. My shiny new ward should protect me from their spells. I put it together from three of them actually. It is so freaking awesome! It shields me from magic, but I can totally activate it to push people back, or shield against regular stuff." Stiles turned his Jeep towards the woods, rather than the lake, because everything horrible happens in the woods.<br/>
"Liam, and I are tracking them in the woods. You're not still with Derek are you?" Scott huffed, clearly running now. Stiles parked his Jeep at the edge of the woods, next to Scott's bike.<br/>
" No. I'll call him, you focus on the crazy witches. " Stiles hung up, and dialed Derek with one hand, and grabbed his bat out of the back with the other one.<br/>
"Stiles? You left two minutes ago, did you forget something?" Derek answered on the first ring, Stiles rolled his eyes.<br/>
"No, come on, I'm not that bad. We've got an evil witch problem, because happy birthday me. I'm on my way into the woods, which hey, why does everything horrible happen in this woods? I could use some bad ass wolfy back up, if you're free. I know you had big plans tonight, with the books, and the scowling, but please say I'm not going to be wandering in the woods alone on my birthday." Stiles yelped as his foot snagged on a root. Flashlight, he definitely needed a flashlight. It was a new moon, and the already creepy woods doubled in it's creep factor when it was dark.<br/>
"Stiles?" He could hear the sound of Derek's car, which reassured him more than any flashlight could.<br/>
"I'm fine. I'm okay, just blind in the dark. Is there a rune for that? I bet there is. You're on the way right?" Stiles pulled his phone away from his face briefly, turning the light on, and blinking hard while his eyes adjusted.<br/>
"Yes. Stay." Derek hung up, Stiles snorted, no way would that happen. Now that he had some light he could at least managed to stay on his feet. The smell of damp earth, and rotting foliage filled the night air, and of course as soon as he was completely alone he heard something. He pressed his phone against his chest to hide the light.<br/>
"Derek, please tell me that's you?" Stiles whispered, knowing he would hear him. Unfortunately the noise turned to full on chanting. There were five of them standing in the points of a pentegram, and two at the center.<br/>
Okay, so he was comically out of his league. He very carefully covered his light, turning it off, and lowering the screen brightness all the way. He shot Scott a quick text, and crouched in the underbrush to try and figure out what they were doing.<br/>
It sounded like Latin, which couldn't bode well. The five held flickering candles, and in the low light Stiles could make out a dark circle he suspected was Lydia's blood around the two in the middle. They held blades, a lot like the one he had at his side, and they clearly intended to bleed on some kind of person shaped effigy. That would probably be bad. Where the hell was Derek, or Scott for that matter?<br/>
"With this blood we reach out behind our world for those we lost. Bring me the sacrifice." They sliced open their hands, and waved an eighth person forward, and they had a kid, younger than Stiles with his hands bound, hardly able to keep his feet under him. Jesus! Stiles couldn't just hide while they killed a kid. He ran out of cover, charging like a reckless idiot towards the two at the center. He really, really hoped the range of this new rune would be able to knock them all back, otherwise he was so dead.<br/>
"Please work!" Stiles slapped his hand against his chest, sending out a wave of force, sending some of them scattering, but not all of them. Stiles clutched his bat, tripping over the effigy, breaking the clay statue. He went slack, the bay falling from his hands, and everything went white.</p>
<p>Derek threw himself out of the camaro, nearly hitting all fours as he chased down Stiles scent. That idiot would never stay put. His fears were confirmed when he heard gun shots. What kind of witches used guns? Stiles could not get shot on his birthday. As the trees flew past him the scent of Stiles mixed with blood, as the acrid smell of him powder.<br/>
An assault rifle laid in the dirt not ten feet from where Stiles wrestled with one of only two witches left alive. Six of them were dead, bullets through their chests, and between their eyes. Derek didn't have time to make sense of the scene around him.<br/>
He threw himself at the witch on top of Stiles, slamming them into a near by tree. He felt the body go limp, and turned to face th last one, but Stiles had sat up, and pulled out a hand gun. He shot three times, blood splattering across the already wrecked forest floor. The woman's chest exploded, and her eyes glazed over when the last shot drilled through her skull.<br/>
"Who the fuck are you?" Stiles pointed the gun at him. Derek held both hands up, so stunned he couldn't even imagine an answer.<br/>
"Hey, ah, fuck, shit! Hey, answer me, or I'll put you down too." Stiles pressed his free hand into his side, blood lazing between his finger.<br/>
"Whoa, it's me Stiles. You need a hospital." Derek stepped forward , and Stiles shot him. Derek stumbled back, letting out a road of pain.<br/>
"I don't know you. I feel like that was pretty clearly established, so don't come closer. Oh calm down you're a wolf, you'll be fine. Who are you? Where is Scott?" Stiles forced himself to stand, the already freely bleeding wound soaking into the dirty grey of his sweatshirt. Now that Derek had a moment, and the clarity of agonizing pain he realized Stiles looked different from when he left his apartment.<br/>
He didn't have on the stupid Batman shirt, but that could be explained by the sweatshirt. That wasn't where the differences ended though. He looked more muscular, and his hair was shaved on the sides creating an odd sort of Mohawk, and a scar over his eye that hadn't been there an hour ago. The thing that alarmed him most however was that he didn't smell like Stiles. The base scent was there, but the other things, adderal, cheap shampoo, soda, and pop tarts all of that was gone.<br/>
"I'm Derek Hale. I'm your friend, you knew me before the witches got a hold of you. What did they do to you?" Derek didn't make the mistake of trying to approach him again, despite his every instinct imploring him to help Stiles.<br/>
"Well Derek Hale, I don't know. I was running with Scott, hunters had chained dogs, and they wanted him too. I had just stopped to make a stand, and pull them off Scott when suddenly I'm in a circle of... I have to set this down. If you come closer I will put one between your eyes, you understand?" Derek nodded, watching Stiles set the pistol in his holster as if he did it every day. The knuckles on his hand were scarred, and his entire hand was calloused.<br/>
"Anyway, suddenly I was in the middle of a bunch of witches, not always a bad thing, but they were pissed. They tried to fucking stab me, well more than tried, clearly. I shot them, then your boy over there tackled me, and you showed up. I appreciate the save, most wolves would have avoided the fight, but that doesn't mean I trust you." Stiles pulled a flattened roll of duct tape out of his worn cargo pants, hiking his shirt up. The blade had caught his side, leaving a deep gash trailing an angry red line just over his hip. His stomach still had freckles, and his skin still looked as pale, but the hard lines of his abbs that tapered into a v towards his waist band had not been present when he had his hand on Stiles chest not even an hour ago.<br/>
"You're not my Stiles." Derek said, speaking a fact, rather than asking a question. Stiles looked up at him, his eyes were the same color, but the hard edge that shone through made him look like a stranger.<br/>
"No, I don't think so. I am a Stiles, so that's good I guess. My money is on a swap of some kind. There was a hostage here when I started. Don't know where they got to, but my bet is they'd ment to swap them for someone other than me, and your Stiles fucked it up, because every Stiles is fucking awesome, obviously." Stiles bit the corner of the duct tape, pulling it until he had a long strip while he used his sweatshirt sleeve to clear the blood. Once it was dry enough he stuck the tape to his side, and wrapped it closed.<br/>
"What are you doing? You need a doctor. Probably stitches, or at least sterile gauze." Derek couldn't help it, he shifted towards him. Stiles pulled his gun so fast Derek hardly realized he'd done it. The end of the roll of tape dangled from his stomach, tugging at the makeshift bandage.<br/>
"What did I say? I don't have a med kit on me genius. Where the hell would I get anything like that? People don't just leave medical equipment laying around." Stiles tore the tape awkwardly with one hand, tucking it back into his pocket without lowering the gun.<br/>
"I have it, my place is two minutes away by car." Derek held his hands up, Stiles raised a brow at him.<br/>
"Do you have a car?" Stiles crouched down by one of the witches, taking their blade, and tucking it into his boot. He patted their pockets down next.<br/>
"Yes. So do you." Derek gestured in the direction of the road. Stiles glanced at the other witches, then off where Derek gestured. He looked as if he wanted to search them too, but blood still seeped through his tape, and he'd started to get pale, even for him.<br/>
"Fine. Take me there." Stiles waved him forward with his gun. He stopped to pick up the assault rifle, slinging it over his back without looking. This kid may be a Stiles, but he wasn't the clumsy, exuberant Stiles he knew. Derek walked with his hands up back through the woods. Stiles never once tripped, or stumbled. They made it to the road where all three vehicles were still parked. His Camaro still had the headlights on. He went to it first, only just managing to turn off the lights before Stiles cocked his gun.<br/>
"Not that thing. Fuck, is this my baby? I had to blow mine up to take down a group of blutbaden, have you ever run into those. They are like your ugly, angry cousins. More wolfman than werewolf, but still. They do not like you guys." Stiles pulled a chain from around his neck, shifting over to lean into the jeep. The key dangling around his neck fit the ignition, and the jeep chugged to life.<br/>
"Oh! Hell yeah! You drive, but if this is a trap, I promise I'll blow your head off before it takes me down." Stiles waved Derek over to the jeep, slipping into the back to hold the gun against the  back rest from behind him. These were clearly not idle threats, this Stiles knew better than to press the gun to his temple, or sit beside him. He'd done this before. Even his heart rate was calm, Stiles never sounded completely calm.<br/>
"I should call Scott. Someone needs to clean up that mess. The Sheriff will get reports of gun fire." Derek said while he carefully backed the jeep into the road. He didn't fit properly in the driver's seat. It was too far back, and the steering wheel dug into his thighs because Stiles' mess of gangly limbs were longer than Derek's legs by an inch or so, but considerably thinner.<br/>
"Call? Jesus, I really am in bizarre-o world. Sure, whatever. Call him. I trust Scott, even if it is some soft, upside down world Scott. Put it on speaker. I want to know it's him, and no one else." Stiles jabbed the gun into the seat hard enough to jar it forward. Derek slipped his phone out, holding it so Stiles could see while he dialed Scott.<br/>
"Derek? What the hell happened? Is Stiles with you, I can smell his blood, like a lot of it.  most the witches are dead, but someone shot them. " Scott had an air of panic in his voice, but he could see a smile quirk Stiles' lips.<br/>
"Yo, Scotty, I'm alright, only one hole, and it's little. Derek's patching me up." Stiles sounded so much like himself when he said it. Scott sighed, even over the phone Derek could feel his relief.<br/>
"This is not fine. Clean up the mess, get the last one to Deaton, and meet me at my place." Derek growled, but Stiles reached forward, and hung up before he could clarify.<br/>
"That's enough, we can figure this out when Scott is around. Give me that." Stiles took his phone, slipping it into his pocket. When he reached forward he could see two rings tattooed around his wrist much like the one Scott had.<br/>
"You don't need the gun on me." Derek pulled into his parking garage, Stiles got out first, he scanned the perimeter before waving with his free hand for Derek to join him<br/>
"I don't need to have a dick either, but I like to, it makes me feel good. You first sour wolf." Derek tensed, he didn't like hearing this Stiles use that name. Stiles tilted his head shaking the gun slightly to grab his attention. Derek hurried towards the elevator.<br/>
"No thank you. Take the stairs. I'm not getting in a tiny box with you, ten feet ahead unless you'll leave sight line." Stiles held the door to the stairs way open. Stiles had once complained for three days that his feet would fall off if he did another step after climbing his stairs, but the Stiles jogged after him like they were nothing.<br/>
"Who else lives here? You have a pack, obviously. You have Scott at least, so you're not an omega. Your too strong for it to just be the two of you. Is your alpha at the top of these stairs?" Stiles still rambled, which was reassuring , but it was considerably more pointed.<br/>
"I live alone. My alpha will come when things are cleaned up. I called him. You heard me." Derek pulled the door open to his loft, Stiles blinked in open mouthed shock. His eyes seemed to take in everything at once, unable to focus on much of anything. There was very little light, only the one in the kitchen that he'd forgotten to turn off in his rush but that didn't seem to bother him the way it did his Stiles.<br/>
"Bulshit! You live here? Alone? Wow, this world is definitely not the one I woke up in this morning." Stiles tucked his gun into it's holster, peeling off his shirts in one motion. He tossed it on the counter, going to the fridge. He opened it with a little moan. He snatched the Chinese to go box, and hopped up to sit beside his shirts.<br/>
"I haven't had sweet and sour pork in eight years! What? Why are you staring, get the med kit. You're the one who wanted to stitch me up." Derek shook his head to unstick his gaze from the road map of scars across his chest, and back. These weren't the runes Stiles had asked him to do, they were a spider webbed pattern of cuts, burns, and even fresh bruises. One stuck out above all else, a brand with a deep laceration nearly healed across it in the shape of a bullet.<br/>
"That brand..." Derek let himself trail off, allowing the silence to work for him while he pulled the med kit from under his coffee table.<br/>
"What? Oh, yeah, the Argent brand, no. I'm not with them, I did this. After Scott got bit we left. Ran really. That's how we ended up back in Beacon Hills. No one lives here where I'm from. This whole town got wrecked during the war. The Argents took us in when my Dad died. Mrs. McCall died to get us out of there." Derek had known his silence would spur Stiles to talk, but he hadn't expected so much.<br/>
"This will hurt." Derek mumbled , ripping the tape free with a bit more force than needed, Stiles hardly flinched.<br/>
"You think that hurts, I had a kitsune put a rebar through my stomach one time. It got infected, if Scott hadn't broken into that witches house to steal me antibiotics I would have totally died. He got cursed for it. He couldn't shift out of beta form for two years. I think she died though, because he's got his pretty face back." Stiles leaned back to watch Derek carefully clean the cut with an iodine q-tip. Derek laid his free hand at the edge of the wound, taking his pain for the second time that day.<br/>
"Is today still your birthday?" Derek directed him, the cut definitely needed stitches. He'd rather Mrs. McCall do them, but he didn't want Stiles to pass out on his counter either. He quickly thread the suture needle. He'd spent quite a bit on this kit, Stiles got hurt a lot.<br/>
"I don't know. What day is it? Is this even June? Jesus, if it is this is a crazy ass birthday." Stiles reached up to brush his fingers through Derek's hair. He tensed, but didn't pull away, whatever this Stiles needed to feel comfortable he would allow. His peace of mind was more important than Derek's discomfort with intimacy.<br/>
"It's June 6th." He winced as the needle stuck too deep, breathing through his nose to bare the pain.<br/>
"Happy birthday me. I didn't think I'd live to see eighteen." Stiles fell quiet in a way Derek had never seen him do. It made the room feel tense. Derek finished bandaging the wound, but didn't remove his hand. He wanted to wait until the pain had settled a little. Stiles watched him, something in his eyes looked more predatory than Derek remembered.<br/>
Stiles shifted into his touch, a hand going to Derek's neck, and pulled himself up into a kiss. Derek's eyes went wide as the warmth of his chapped lips mingled with the taste of Chinese food against his mouth. Stiles pulled back when he didn't respond.<br/>
"What's wrong?" Stiles looked him up and down with a comical look of confusion painted across his face. Derek maintained a look of stony indifference, but he suspected he had a bit of a blush.<br/>
"Why did you do that?" Derek choked the words out, hyper aware of Stiles' hand still on his neck, a searing pressure that kept him leaning between Stiles' legs. His apartment suddenly felt very small, and intimately dark.<br/>
"What? You want me, I can tell. I want you, and we have time, so..." Stiles pressed back in for another kiss, the velvet heat of his tongue swiping across Derek's lower lip. Derek shoved back so fast he nearly tossed Stiles on the floor.<br/>
"Oh come on, was I wrong? Do you not want me?" The barest hint of self-conciousness could be heard in his tone. Derek had to look away from the flush of his skin, and the mark left behind by his stubble.<br/>
" Stiles! Your not... Your not my Stiles. You can't..." Derek scowled deeper, as if it would somehow make up for his lack of words, or the way his heart raged against his ribs to try and make him return to Stiles' touch.<br/>
"Your Stiles? Wait, we're you with the other Stiles, because I mean it's not cheating. I am him, just with a different life, I think. It doesn't seem fair for him to get all of that hotness to himself. The apocalypse doesn't leave a lot of time for hooking up." Stiles leaned back with a little chuckle. Derek took a deep breath, wishing the scent of Stiles didn't fill the space.<br/>
"No! Stiles... We're getting him back, and you're not him." Derek growled, his eyes shining blue, Stiles rolled his eyes, slipping off the counter.<br/>
"Fair enough." He went back to the fridge, leaving Derek to try and calm himself down. It wasn't that he didn't want to kiss Stiles, but he was a kid, and this one didn't even know him. The sound of the elevator opening broke through the sound of Stiles rummaging through his kitchen, snacking on anything he found.<br/>
"Thank God." Derek mumbled , going to open the door.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. New Places, Old Faces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Settling into new places isn't going at all how they expect.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here comes the smut!<br/>Someone requested I warn vs dubious consent/sexual assault for this chapter.<br/>That is not what is happening, but I could see how it could appear that way. No version of Stiles I ever write would allow something to happen between himself and Derek that he didn't want. His only concern is about what others will think. I'm sorry if this came across poorly.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stiles stumbled to the ground, his hand hitting something sharp in the once again pitch black night. He yellped, rolling over to clutch it to his chest. Hey, the witches were gone, win!<br/>
A loud growl sounded from the void of darkness around him. Even the light pollution had faded. He scrambled for his bat, which was not where he remembered dropping it, cool. He tried to get to his feet without injuring himself again. A pair of glowing red eyes moved towards him at a breakneck speed.<br/>
"Jesus!" Stiles slapped his chest again, and oh God that still hurt, but the eyes went flying back, slamming into something with a loud thump. Stiles fumbled with his injured hand to get his phone out. The light of the screen blinding him. He turned on the flashlight quickly. He moved it slowly over the tangle of brush and leaves until the light reflected off the very naked body of Derek Hale. Stiles ran towards him, tripping twice, but managing to stay on his feet.<br/>
"Derek?" A glint of metal caught his eye, he had some kind of collar on. He turned it, revealing a silver lock, and wofting up the smell of wolf's bane to his very human nose. Even in the low light he could see it burning into his skin. The lock didn't look complicated, kind of like a handcuff lock. Stiles pulled out his wallet, sticking his phone half into his mouth to pull out the key he kept with his card. He got handcuffed a lot.<br/>
He struggled to hold the phone still, and use the key, but he made it work. He wiggled the key, forcing something a bit tougher than if he'd had the right key, but the lock popped open.<br/>
"Hell yeah! Come on Derek, wake up!" Stiles whipped the collar deeper into the woods, remembering how Scott had reacted to having wolf's bane in his jeep. He shook his shoulders, before giving up and slapping him roughly, because he did not have time to take a nap. A growl escaped his lips before his eyes even opened.<br/>
"Derek, oh thank God!" Stiles dropped his forehead against his chest, Derek tensed, probably because he was naked, and Stiles had decided that was the perfect time to start being cuddly.<br/>
"We need to move." Derek put a hand on Stiles' shoulder, pushing him back. Stiles got up with a modicum of grace, and held a hand out for Derek.<br/>
"What the hell is going on Derek? Where are your pants?" Stiles whispered harshly, Derek glared at him, glare number four specifically, his glare of confusion. Great, he didn't know either.<br/>
"Can you open other collars?" Derek said instead , which didn't make a lot of sense, unless the witches got Scott, and Liam.<br/>
"Yeah. I've got a key, sort of. I mean it's not a perfect fit, but it seems to work. I mean, as long as the locks are the same." Stiles held up the key, Derek frowned at it, but didn't get grabby.<br/>
"Stay. I'll get them." Derek disappeared, he moved so much faster than Stiles could track.<br/>
"Hey! Come on! I could help! Rude." Stiles pressed his hand against his shoulder, hoping it would stop bleeding. A beta he hardly had time to see came barreling into the clearing. Before he could do anything Derek dropped down on it, roaring so loud Stiles' ears rang.<br/>
"Hurry." Derek barked, Stiles rushed over. This beta's curls were a matter blonde , and his pale skin had so many scars Stiles couldn't find a smooth patch. He'd never seen a beta scar. He yanked the collar off, tossing it towards the last one.<br/>
"Two more." Derek let the blonde up, and Stiles nearly fainted when he realized who it was.<br/>
"Isaac?" The boy in question looked at him, blurry eyes unable to truly focus. Derek put a hand on his shoulder.<br/>
"Isaac, protect him." Derek flashed his red eyes, and Isaac nodded. Red eyes? Derek was an alpha? That couldn't be right. Oh, something very strange was a foot in Beacon Hills. At least Isaac had pants on. Stiles heard the distant sound of fighting, definitely wolves fighting. A flash of blonde met with the stone wall of Isaac. Stiles stumbled back, looking between them. This one was a girl, so thin Stiles could see her ribs. Jesus! It was Erica. She knocked Isaac back, he still didn't seem to be firing on all cylinders.<br/>
Stiles scrambled to his side, clutching his chest, and bending over his limp form. Erica slammed into the invisible wall of Stiles' shield, the force of her attack winding Stiles in his attempt to maintain the shield. A large dark skinned man skidded across the forest floor, thunking into his shield, and crumbling to the ground. Erica turned to fight Derek as he stalked into the open, so Stiles focused on... Boyd, because of course.<br/>
Nothing made sense right now, but helping Boyd was good, so he would just focus on what he could do. One mess at a time. He threw this collar with the others, shaking Boyd lightky. He trusted Derek, but he'd hardly known Boyd when he was alive. He really didn't want him to eat his face.<br/>
"Here!" Derek had Erica pinned to a tree, but he didn't know how long that would last. Stiles stumbled over, nearly tripping on Boyd. Her struggle to bite his hand made it impossible to use the key until Derek held her head back. Stiles ripped the collar off just like the other three.<br/>
"We have to go. Carry Boyd. " Derek ordered her, he turned, and grabbed Stiles by the wrist, hauling him up on to his back. Stiles squeaked, rushing to wrap his legs around his waist to keep himself secure. Derek took off through the night like a bat out of hell. Tandem wolf running was not his sport. Derek's shoulder kept jabbing him in the neck, and Stiles was alarmingly aware of Derek's state of dress.<br/>
"Hey, um, not to seem ungrateful for the, ow, the piggy back and everything, but, ow, where are we going?" Stiles shifted to keep his hold on his phone, and Derek at the same time.<br/>
"Away." Derek growled, Stiles shifted to get a look at his face. Derek had his full beta form on, which he supposed, explained the speed. They ran until Stiles' arm started to ache, and he knew he would have little cuts on his cheeks from the branches hitting him on the way by. They finally stopped at the old Hale house. He hadn't seen this place in almost a year. Why would they come here? Of course that was the least of his questions.<br/>
"The Hale house, really? What is going on Derek?" Stiles really didn't like this. He didn't know what, but something had definitely happened with those witches.<br/>
"How does he know our names? Who is this kid?" Isaac sniffed at him, apparently a jaunty trek through the woods had helped him clear his head. Boyd had woken up at some point too.<br/>
"I don't know, but he smells like pack, like me, and other wolves. He's staying." Derek said, well that was good, at least bizzare-o Derek still recognized they were friends.<br/>
"I'm Stiles. How do you not know me? I was at your loft like an hour ago, not even." Stiles watched the little twitch in his brow. That meant it didn't make sense to Derek, how could that not make sense? He needed to sit down.<br/>
"What the hell is a Stiles?" Erica poked at him, Derek let out a low growl, and she pulled away.<br/>
"Stiles stay here. We need to check the house." Derek left him standing in the dark, by himself while they all walked inside, looking like a pop band doing a porno. It was unfair how collectively hot they were. The scars concerned him though. Only Derek didn't have any.<br/>
"How do we know we can trust him?" Erica was not as quiet as she thought, or equally the burnt out house didn't hold sound well.<br/>
"We don't, but if not for him we'd still be slaved to the Argents. He's safe here tonight understood? " Derek spoke in his alpha tone, which Stiles had forgotten was so sexy. As far as birthday presents went, seeing Derek naked was pretty awesome. He would never get the image out of his head. It didn't help that it was dark enough to let his mind wander.<br/>
"Fine, but I don't like it." Erica said it loud, as if she wanted him to hear her. Stiles scoffed, she was so spunky. He'd missed her.<br/>
"Noted, take Boyd, and check the perimeter. Get water, and something to eat if you can. Isaac, search the house, see if there are pants here, and keep watch. I'll deal with him." Derek came back out, hardly visible except for his glowing red eyes.<br/>
"Help gather firewood." Derek definitely didn't ask, but the night was a bit chilly, so he figured a fire might be nice.<br/>
"Do you really not remember me?" Stiles whispered, lighting his way with his phone. He knew he didn't need to speak up, despite Derek being a ways away.<br/>
"No. I can smell my scent on your skin, but I don't know you." Derek ripped the limb off a dead tree with a loud crack.<br/>
"That's crazy. I mean you're like one of my best friends, how can you not know me? Everything right now is insane. I feel like I'm in a crazy AU Batman ark or something. I mean there were the witches, and I interrupted their spell, and that obviously did... Whatever is happening, but it doesn't make any sense! " Stiles waved his free hand, which also happened to be his injured hand wildly. He almost instantly regretted the motion.<br/>
"Your bleeding." Derek closed the space between them, stepping into Stiles light, giving him an amazing view of abbs, and hip bone.<br/>
"It's fine, I cut it on a rock or something. Grace Kelly I am not." Stiles looked at it, the scrape didn't look too bad now that he could see the thing.<br/>
"Come on." Derek took his arm load of firewood , adding it to his own, and lead him inside. Damn, that ass! Stiles tried not to stare, but it was in the light, and he had to follow him. He was only human. Once they were in what Stiles assumed was once a living room because of the fire place, and the open floor plan, Derek crouched down to start a fire with a rock like a cave man.<br/>
"Here. " Stiles tugged the lighter from his pocket, a simple silver Zippo. He couldn't count how many times having a lighter had saved his ass. Derek looked at it for a long moment before taking it, as if he'd handed him a magic potion or something.<br/>
"You have magic, I saw you use it. Do you think you can fix what the witches did to you?" Derek said once the fire roared to life. Stiles shrugged, picking at his wounded hand. The dancing amber light cast long shadows across the ruined home, leaving the far corners dark, and throwing Derek into sharp relief.<br/>
"I don't even know what they did. I mean I could probably fix it once I did, but all the clues are wherever they are. I think I might not be in my world any more honestly. Where I come from I watched two out of four of you die. If that's true getting back would require so much more power than I have. Not to mention I'm kind of new at all this. Deaton would know better than me, but I don't even know if he's here. I'm kind of freaking out here." Stiles looked up at him with big puppy dog eyes, and Derek crossed the small space between them, leaning down to kiss him, slow at first, but when he gasped Derek pushed into it, tasting his tongue.<br/>
"Ah! What? I, you, that, you can't just kiss me!" Stiles stumbled back. That was dumb. Obviously he could, he just did, but Stiles brain had fried the moment Wolff lips touched his. Stiles could feel the blush burning in his skin. Derek pressed forward, running his nose along the hollow of his neck.<br/>
"Why not? You want me, I can tell. I want you too, and we have time." Derek takes his blunt human teeth just under his jaw, making Stiles shiver. Derek's predatory need made Stiles' head spin.<br/>
"You don't even know me." Stiles whimpered , sounding weak, and pathetic even to himself. Derek slid one hand down his chest, hooking his thumb under Stiles' belt.<br/>
"I know your scent, and you smell like you're mine, like you want my hands on you, in you." The growl in Derek's voice broke every molecule of restraint Stiles had in him. When his rough stubble scratched across Stiles' chin to bring him back to a kiss Stiles met it with equal fervor. Derek smirked against his lips, unzipping Stiles' jeans without bothering with the belt. Stiles almost lost it when Derek took him in hand.<br/>
He pulled him free of his jeans, hard as oak, all the while intent on tasting every inch of exposed skin Stiles had. In a moment of brilliance Stiles clamored to remove his shirt. Derek groaned his approval into Stiles collar bones, biting, and sucking on the sensitive skin. Stiles' knees gave out when Derek pressed his impressive length against Stiles' stroking them together in his large hand.<br/>
"Derek! Fuck! I... I can't." Stiles shoved him back, dropping to his knees. Derek gave a wolfish grin at the sight, until Stiles ran the flat of his tongue up the slight curve of his shaft. Derek threw his head back, groaning, and growling in turn. Stiles could cum from just the noises he was making while he tasted his cock.<br/>
"Stiles!" Derek snarled, brushing his claws across his scalp, clearly straining not to shove his cock into Stiles' mouth. Stiles obliged him, sucking him down to the base. He nearly cracked his jaw to keep his teeth from scratching the wider base of him, but found it didn't make him gag. Stiles had only just found a decent rythem that didn't threaten to choke him when Derek pulled away. Before Stiles could question him, Derek came with a roar of his name, painting him with trails of his cum across his cheek, and down his chest.<br/>
Stiles reached up, swiping his finger through it, and sucking it into his mouth. Derek's eyes shone red, and he lifted him up with a savage intent. Pinning him to the wall with a hand on each hip, Derek sucked him into his mouth until his balls slapped against his chin. When had he taken his pants off? Well not off, but they were around his thighs.<br/>
"Ngk! Fuck! Derek!" Stiles struggled to remember how to breathe, because this was not at all like Malia, or anything else he'd ever done. Derek devoured him, sucking a finger into his mouth as well before reaching around to tease his rim. When Derek slid a finger inside him, skimming across his prostate Stiles came so hard he saw stars.<br/>
Derek looked up at him, cum dripping down his chin, and waited until Stiles met his eyes, pupils blown. Derek grinned, trailing his tongue up Stiles chest, leaving behind their mixed spendings before invading his mouth. He could taste himself of Derek's lips, and it gave him a filthy thrill. He rubbed his face into Stiles neck before finally pulling away.<br/>
"You should rest. I'll wake you when there's food." Derek retrieved his shirt, and scooped up the boneless mess that comprised Stiles at this point. Stiles struggled to rig his jeans up at least far enough to cover his ass. Derek sat them down by the fire, gathering Stiles into his lap to rest against his chest, still sticky with cum. After a blissful moment of post coital bliss Stiles brain kicked back on.<br/>
He had just slept with Derek! A Derek at least. A Derek that was probably not his Derek. A very naked, cuddly Derek, who didn't know his real name. Oh God! He would never be able to look at his Derek again. He would probably spring an erection just hearing his voice! Jesus, what had he done? Would his Derek be pissed? It wasn't like he started it! Derek jumped him! Oh, he couldn't ever tell his Derek that.<br/>
"You okay?" Derek whispered against the shell of his ear, his stubble giving him goosebumps. Stiles took a deep breath, trying to decide what to say. His brain was not at full capacity, so he decided the truth would be best.<br/>
"My Derek, where I'm from, he's never done that." Stiles fidgeted in his arms, not sure if he wanted to rabbit, or sink into his warmth, and never leave.<br/>
"Than he's an idiot." Derek nipped at an already sore spot on his neck, Stiles chuckled, tracing his fingers along the dark hair of Derek's arm, finding a freckle he hadn't noticed before.<br/>
"I like him, obviously, and I need to get back to my world, or whatever, but now... We just had sex. How am I supposed to deal with that? I mean what if I go back, and I jump my Derek, or he doesn't want to be around me because I took advantage of a wild naked version of him?" Stiles mumbled into Derek's arms. Derek kissed the top of his head, letting a moment of silence pass where only the crackle of the fire filled the room.<br/>
"I'm not the Derek you know, but I am Derek. I think he'll understand, if not want to erase the smell of me from your skin by covering you in his scent." Derek hooked his leg up, to press against Stiles, as if the added pressure would somehow reassure him.<br/>
"I should have said no." Stiles slid his hand down Derek's knee, not doing a very good job of acting like he didn't want to kiss him again. The cocoon of warmth Derek provided made him feel safe, and wherever he was, it was anything but safe.<br/>
"Maybe, but it's done. You might as well enjoy it while you can. There will be time enough for guilt when you're home safe." Derek said, Stiles nodded, that was a surprisingly good point. If he had to be stuck in this bizarre-o world that for sure wanted him dead, he might as well let himself have this. His Derek would never want him.</p><p>Derek opened the door, letting Scott inside. Stiles grinned through a mouth full of what had to be stale girl scout cookies.<br/>
"Stiles, what the hell happened?" Scott stopped mid stride when the smell of Stiles hit him, and like Derek he realized something was very wrong.<br/>
"Scotty! Look at you! You're so little, I could pick you up man!" Stiles held out the box of cookies towards him, spilling yet more food crumbs into Derek's normally pristine kitchen floor.<br/>
"Who are you? What did you do with Stiles?" Scott's eyes went red, and his nails came out. Stiles laughed, tossing the box aside to get closer to the angry alpha.<br/>
"Dude! Your alpha eyes are adorable! How does that puppy face scare anyone?" Stiles shifted his weight around, not quite defensive, but prepared for Scott to lash out. Watching Stiles move with such confidence made Derek's insides squirm. He could still taste him on his lips.<br/>
"He thinks the witches swapped this Stiles for ours. Tell me Deaton is questioning the last witch." Derek scrubbed at his face, trying to free himself of the invasive smell of Stiles. Scott looked like he'd been gutted, as if he'd been the one to push Stiles into the spell.<br/>
"Whoa, put the guilty face away. Your Stiles is a big boy, I'm sure he knew what he was doing. I bet my Scott found him like two seconds after he fell into my world. The odds that the Argents found him are miniscule at best. Heck, I bet he beats us to a solution, and I just pop out like I did the first time, which was in no way alarming or..." Stiles tapered off when the elevator doors opened, and the Sheriff stepped out with Liam.<br/>
"Dad?" Derek forced himself to look up at the tiny, fragile sound of his voice. The Sheriff smiled at his son, as of yet unaware that anything was wrong. Stiles scrambled to cross the space, for the first time displaying the clumsy twist of long limbs Derek was so used to seeing. In fact he nearly fell on the floor, bracing himself with one hand to stay upright until he could throw his arms around the Sheriff.<br/>
"Hey kiddo, what's going on?" He looked over Stiles' shoulder as he shook against him, silently asking Derek, or Scott to fill him in. Stiles fisted his uniform in both hands, clinging to him like he may never let him go. The Sheriff rubbed his back gently, worry touching the set of his jaw.<br/>
"It's cool Dad, just a little witch based Prince and the Pauper thing. We'll figure it out, I promise. I might have to crash here for an intensive research sesh, but hey, what's a birthday without some big bad trying to eat something right?" Stiles, pulled back, wiping at his face as covertly as could be managed. The Sheriff eyed him, searching for a lie, his eyes tracking to Scott, and Derek next. Scott looked as shocked as the Sheriff.<br/>
"Sorry about the mess Sheriff. We will fix this." Derek took a step forward, somehow even knowing it wasn't his Stiles, Derek wanted to shield him from whatever put that devastated glint in his eyes.<br/>
"Okay, well I'm on the night shift anyway. I'll send you guys takeout. I know you can eat a guy out of house and home when you get caught up in research." The Sheriff looked over at where half of Derek's kitchen had been pulled out, and gone through.<br/>
"You are the best, make sure you order yourself something with a vegetable in it, and I don't mean just lettuce." Stiles said, the Sheriff chuckled, seemingly reassured that Stiles was okay if he was criticizing his diet.<br/>
"I'll eat a vegetable if you promise not to stumble into any more massacres." He pointed at him, Stiles laughed, a bitter, slightly hysterical noise.<br/>
"I'll stay in, I promise." Stiles hugged him again, and he left, still looking a little suspicious. Liam moved closer to Scott, raising an eyebrow at him.<br/>
"Okay, that was weird right?" Liam whispered when the elevator doors shut. Stiles whipped around, running his hand over the shaved section of his head.<br/>
"Okay, please don't tell my Dad. He will freak out, I'm all he's got, and his heart isn't great in the first place. I'll get his son back, I'll fix it, but he doesn't have to know." Stiles waved his hands, gesturing frantically while he spoke. It was the most Stiles like behavior he'd presented this far.<br/>
"Your father is dead. " Derek filled in the gap of understanding for Scott, and Liam. Stiles tilted his head, his eyes shining as if he might cry.<br/>
"For six years. Four years after Mom. That doesn't matter, this one is alive, and I'd like to keep him that way. I'll go see your Deaton, or whatever. Best behavior, promise." Stiles bounced on the balls of his feet. Liam still looked very confused .<br/>
"Why did you tell him you were staying here?" Derek forced himself to focus on the moment, and not the way the smell of Stiles' anxiety filled the room, making Derek's chest tight. He needed to separate his feelings for Stiles from this other Stiles before he did something stupid.<br/>
"Oh, I um... Look, I've been living in an apocalypse guys, I've got issues your Stiles doesn't. Not the least of which is waking up unexpectedly generally ends in the person closest to me getting stabbed. It is not a risk I can take. Remember the whole, I want him to stay alive, part of the conversation." Stiles spun back towards the kitchen, trying not to look at them. Derek looked over at Scott, a silent conversation taking place between them.<br/>
"So stabbing Derek is cool with you?" Liam made a face at his back, Stiles threw an incredulous look over his shoulder.<br/>
"Please, he'll heal." Stiles rolled his eys, and stuffed two cookies into his mouth.<br/>
"He can stay. Go talk to Deaton. We need to know what they did in order to fix it." Derek said, Scott sighed, still tense, and uncertain of this new version of Stiles.<br/>
"Fine. Keep an eye on him." Scott pushed Liam towards the elevator, Stiles jumped back up on the counter.<br/>
"So what are we gonna do to pass the time but guy? Oh, don't give me that look, where are your books? We need to get you back your boyfriend." Stiles waved his hand at Derek, making a little yip when he dropped the box of cookies.<br/>
"He's not... Is every version of you such an idiot?" Derek pulled a trunk out from under his bed, shoving it beside his coffee table.<br/>
"I mean all evidence points to yes. So you don't have a TV, because I haven't gotten to watch a movie in like a decade?" Stiles swivled over the counter to reach for the Chinese food. Derek growled, popping the trunk open.<br/>
"No, now get off my counter." Derek fixed him with a scowl, the smell of old books wafting around him a small reprieve from the constant smell of Stiles.<br/>
"What? Come on, don't I look delicious up here. Good enough to eat, I can tell you. Wow, okay, getting down." Derek flashed his blue eyes, the low growl echoing through his open floor plan. He did not like this version of Stiles. He vaulted over the sofa, flipping down far too close to Derek for his comfort.<br/>
"Hey, the Argents had this book, I wonder if they killed you in my world?" Stiles jostled him with his shoulder. Derek refused to give ground to his cudgeling, but feeling the hot press of Stiles' leg and arm against his own made it very difficult to focus.<br/>
"I doubt it. Chris is the one who gave me the book." Derek used the excuse of grabbing another book to put space between them.<br/>
"Chris Argent? Gerard's son? Now that is insane. I mean don't get me wrong, the guy is way more stable than Kate, or Gerard, but you know, apples and trees right. I once watched Chris blow a wolf's head clean off it's body, just blood, and skull shrapnel covering the cement with the buckshot. It was brutal. " Stiles flipped through the book, clicking a pen he had liberated from one of Derek's kitchen drawers.<br/>
"Hey do you have sticky notes?" Derek pointed to the desk, he didn't want to know this Stiles' life story. He certainly didn't want to hear about the extended Argent family. He wanted to go to bed, and wake up tomorrow to a dozen drunk texts from his Stiles, including one blurry photo of him doing something stupid. That's what happened last year. He wanted to be able to go back to being closer to Stiles than he'd ever been with anyone, but still feel safe knowing Stiles didn't have feelings for him.<br/>
"Earth to sour wolf? I asked you a question." Stiles waggled his fingers in his face.<br/>
"What?" Derek tilted his head when he heard the elevator open. He held up a hand, and to his surprise Stiles paused, waiting for him to get up, and tip the delivery man who came bearing two meat lover's pizzas.<br/>
"Oh God! I can smell those from here! Gimme! I haven't had pizza since Mrs. McCall tried to make it from scratch five years ago. It tasted like a brick. Look at that cheesy, gooy goodness! Ow! Hot! Hot, sticky cheese!" Stiles held his mouth open, trying to vent the heat from his first huge bite. Derek was friends with patience, and decided to let his slice set until his healing factor wouldn't be involved in his dinner.<br/>
"This is so freaking delicious! I miss food man! Fire roasted rabbit just isn't the same without salt, of at least come rosemary. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get good bread in the apocalypse? Anyway, why are you such a prude if you and other Stiles aren't getting down and dirty? I mean a blind man could tell you want this body." Derek choked on his first bite, turning to cough up the pizza he inhaled. Stiles thumped him between the shoulder blades to help, but Derek knew there would be pizza grease on his shirt now.<br/>
"I don't want anything from Stiles. He's pack." Derek choked out the words, sucking down half his tea to try and clear his throat.<br/>
"Okay, so is a mate. You were practically drooling over me. Trust me I have spent a long time getting in the pants of surly warrior types. They're kind of my bread and butter." Stiles grinned around a mouth full of pizza, still a bit too hot for consumption. He ran one hand down his chest to draw his eyes across his bare skin.<br/>
"I'm 24, and Stiles is straight." Derek buried his nose in a book, hardly able to focus on the cramped writing.<br/>
"Please, no version of me is not down for a piece of that. I assure you, my desire to lick you all over does not stem from an environmental factor. The age thing is not that big of a gap. My first time was with a chick nine years older than me." Stiles pulled the pizza away from his mouth leaving a long string of cheese behind. He stuck out his tongue to retrieve it from his chin, and Derek's eyes tracked it unconsciously.<br/>
"He's not you." Derek said, a blush creeping up his neck. Stiles tossed his pizza back in the box, sending a sliver of pepperoni sliding off in an avalanche of cheese.<br/>
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying sour wolf, he's me enough that I know he'll want you, but I'm not him enough for you to feel guilty letting me peg you. It's a win, win. Either way you get what you want, which we both know is this hot bod." Stiles grabbed the post it's off the desk, chewing on the middle of the pen while he read the book in his other hand. Stiles' ability to multitask had always annoyed Derek.<br/>
"Stop calling me that!" Derek got up to go sit at his desk, because being that close to a Stiles that wanted to jump him was damaging his calm.<br/>
"Sour wolf? It's pretty accurate. Oh, he calls you that. What are you gonna do if he's dead, and your stuck with me?" He could feel Stiles' eyes on him while he moved to the safety of his desk chair.<br/>
"Drop it." Derek's voice dropped to a low, ice cold tone. Stiles held his free hand up in surrender, Derek would kill him if they didn't get him out of here soon.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. What Now?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Old friends, or maybe a new friend that feels old, who knows.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I fixed the formatting, sorry about the first two chapters.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stiles woke up with a sour pit in his stomach, and an ache in his head, he must have gotten fairly wasted at his birthday party. God, what a crazy dream. He tried to sit up from the sweltering heat of his bed without opening his eyes, but met with the iron bars of someone's embrace. Stiles peeked through his lashes, the light of midday filtered through the dust, and cobwebs of the old Hale house. </p><p>Isaac. Right, so not a dream. Isaac had his head pillowed on Stiles calf, with his arm hitched under Derek's hairy leg. Erica laid on Isaac's stomach, her hand just touching the sole of Derek's foot. They were tangled together in a very literal dog pile. Boyd must be on watch, because in this world someone wanted to collar his friends, and make them attack dogs. Stiles looked down at the large hands intertwined with his own. </p><p>At least everyone seemed to be okay with him now. Erica still gave him looks when she brought the food back, but Isaac, and Boyd seemed to accept that if Derek wanted to keep him than it was safe enough. Derek who had never bothered to get up and put the pants on that Isaac had found him. Naked Derek.</p><p>He'd slept with Derek! Oh God! He was going to be sick! He tried to breathe slowly, counting to four. The wall of muscles behind him drew him in closer, coarse stubble tickling his neck.</p><p> "What's wrong?" Derek still sounded heavy with sleep, his voice a rumble through his chest that fanned hot air across his cheek.</p><p> "Nothing, I just forgot where I was for a moment." Stiles pulled away from him, and Derek let him go. He really had to pee, but he also needed space to breathe.</p><p> "I'm sorry I wasn't a dream." Derek leaned forward to hold Isaacs head while Stiles slipped out, resting it gently on his other leg. In the light of day this Derek looked so different from his Derek, and not just because he was naked. His face held so much emotion still. Stiles couldn't tell if it was because he'd chosen to trust Stiles, which would be huge on it's own, or if he hadn't been forced to suffer alone the way his Derek had.</p><p> "I mean as far as alternate universes where I'm immediately almost mauled to death go, you are by far the best part. I have to pee, is Boyd out there, or should I like, I don't know, pee in a corner, that seems gross." Stiles yawned, he felt heavy, and sluggish. He shouldn't have used so much magic yesterday. </p><p> "Boyd is out front." Derek nearly cracked a smile, he was definitely more open. Stiles took a moment to look back at him. He hunched forward, stroking his fingers through the tangle of Isaac's hair, trying to work out the knots, and the grime. The light felt soft as it illuminated the curves of his back, and the lines of Erica's long legs. It still cast a shadow though, dark, and jagged along the leathery scars stretching across Isaac, and Erica's skin. Stiles frowned. Derek didn't have his tattoo.</p><p>He shook his eyes free, and went outside before he could wet himself. He already smelled rank, he did not need to add that to the mix. Outside the sun felt blinding, the distant chirping of birds the only break in the silence. Boyd nodded to him, his eyes tracking him as he crossed to the wood line. He groaned, leaning his head back while he relieved himself. No sooner had he zipped up his pants than he got yanked into the bushes.</p><p> "Ahh!" Stiles stumbled, even more tiny underbrush injuries, this could not keep happening. By the time he managed to stop rolling two yellow eyes were on him, teeth bared.</p><p> "Scott?" Stiles whispered, he could not deal with another one of his friends trying to kill him, and since Scott had him pinned to the ground, a root digging into his back, he didn't think he'd win this fight.</p><p> "What the hell Stiles? We were supposed to meet at my old place! Jesus, you stink!" Scott scrambled back, Stiles would have loved to field that question, but before he got a chance Boyd crashed through the cacoon of bramble, tackling Scott.</p><p> "Wait! Boyd, drop him!" Stiles waggled his finger like he was telling a lab to drop a tennis ball, not a two hundred something pound werewolf he technically only just met. Scott kicked him back, Boyd was clearly stronger, but Scott had some crazy moves. Unfortunately that was when the rest of the pack joined him, Derek putting himself in front of Stiles, and roaring down at Scott. He whimpered, scurrying back much the way Isaac had in the locker room so long ago.</p><p> "Derek! Stop! He's my friend!" Stiles tugged on his shoulder, Derek looked back at him, a low growl still resonating in his chest. The whole pack stood tense around their alpha, and Stiles, and the sound of birds had died on the wind.</p><p> "Who the hell are these... Jesus Stiles are these the Argent dogs?" Erica growled, moving closer to him with the clear intent on violence.</p><p> "They were being controlled. I saved them, but um, that's kind of the simple part of the explanation. Can we please all calm down, and put our claws away. Hey, maybe we could even get you some pants. I have like a thousand questions and a couple answers. I don't think you're going to like them Scott, but we need to talk about it, because things are crazy." Stiles looked around at the group, Derek stood down first, and the rest of the pack followed.</p><p> "He's an omega." Isaac whispered, watching Scott with interest. Scott was the least pleased with the idea.</p><p> "Did they hurt you? Touch you?" Scott looked down at where his tee shirt covered the rather large cum stain he hadn't gotten a chance to wash off his chest yet.</p><p> "I promise these are good people Scott. It's complicated, but I think it sort of makes sense. Come on, I'm starving." Stiles started towards the house, and the pack followed. Derek put his hand on the small of Stiles' back, a small added gesture to mark his territory. Scott trailed after, reluctant to enter the burnt out building.</p><p> "How did you break the collars? We tried when I was first bitten, nothing worked." Scott put himself against a wall, one that lead outside, and looked weak. A smart way to plan an exit without looking cagey.</p><p> "I had a key, kind of. Look this will be way easier if I explain my day before we get to the world building questions. I don't think I'm the Stiles you were waiting for. I mean I am Stiles, and I think your Stiles is probably where I was, but that's we're things get a bit iffy. See this morning I was planning a birthday party, and getting Derek to help me with my first rune, but then there was a witch based emergency. I went to the woods at your behest, and you know we really have to stop running at dangerous things. That woods is like the center of all things crazy. I blame the nemeton." Stiles paused, looking around at their confused faces.</p><p> "Right, not the point. The point is there were seven of them casting, and they had a kid that they were definitely going to kill so I charged in, and when I knocked them out of their circle, poof. I'm here, and these guys are trying to kill me. I used magic to stop him, and he helped me stop the rest of them, and the collars had pretty simple handcuff locks, but I think they were also magic, like only a human could open one." Stiles rushed to get through the last of his story as the questions simmered in the expressions of the group.</p><p> "A rune? You can do magic? How do I even know you're really Stiles?" Everyone but Derek spoke at once, turning it into a jumble of words Stiles couldn't really understand. </p><p> "Um, yes I can do magic, this rune, and I guess you don't, because I don't know if the story about you sticking a Lego up your nose, and making me fish it out with the tweezers from operation actually happened here." Stiles pulled his shirt up, and peeled the dirty bandage off his chest, happy to be ridding himself of the thing that still smelled like spunk.</p><p> "I did that to you?" Derek had in fact found pants, but that didn't make the ghost of his touch over the scar any less exhilarating. The rune had healed for the most part, just like his Derek had said it would, now just angry red lines raised in his chest.</p><p> "You carved it, I designed it. It took three hours, most of which I spent back and forth between babbling, and trying not to pass out." Stiles touched his elbow to acknowledge his touch, but also get him to stop, because Scott looked like his eyes might bug out of his skull soon. The house groaned around them, it's age and damage chiming in on Stiles' story.</p><p> "So you're not my friend, but you know the Lego story?" Scott whispered, Stiles made a face, all pinched lips, and guilty eyebrows.</p><p> "No, I mean I'm not the Stiles you grew up with, but apparently we are best friends no matter what world we live in, so that's cool. Look, I want to get home, and get your Stiles back where he belongs too, but I definitely don't know how to do that yet. So I need you guys to fill in some blanks about this world. Everything is important, because I need to know why I ended up here specifically. Is there a factor that made this world easy to get to, or was there someone the witches were looking for? I mean it could be anything." Derek shared a look with his pack, while Scott just watched him. He felt like a bad guy from invasion of the body snatchers. He must act so much like Scott's Stiles.</p><p> "The instability." Derek finally spoke, Stiles looked over at him, cocking his head in question.</p><p> "He's right, if anything made it so this world was the one to pick it would be the instability. It happened when we were pretty young. Something caused a magical, I don't know, explosion of something. There was a huge surge in everything supernatural. It didn't seem that different at first, but I guess there were a bunch of new alphas, and that kind of stuff, because they couldn't keep it under wraps, and then there was a huge war. The town got fire bombed, your Dad hardly managed to get you out with me and Mom. He ah, he didn't make it." Scott looked down at the dirt on his hands, unable to handle the spike in his heart rate, or the look on his face.</p><p> "Dad? I... No, he... No." Stiles couldn't breathe, his stomach lurched, filling his mouth with saliva. This couldn't be real! No way, no way was he all alone here. His Dad was everything, he reached out for anything to hold himself up in his feet with. Derek wrapped himself around Stiles, using his broad shoulders to block out the rest of the world.</p><p> "Stiles, breathe. It's not your world, your father is fine. You're fine." Derek took slow, deliberate breaths to steady him, while Stiles' hands scrabbled at his back, desperate for something to hold on to. He pulled back, and kissed him. Derek's lips, a hot press of gentle pressure. His stubble scraping against his chin. He moved back after only a second, but Stiles managed to suck in one startled breath.</p><p>Once he had air again he leaned heavily against Derek's shoulder, panting for air. This wasn't his world, his dad was fine. This wasn't his world, his dad was fine. He closed his eyes, counting to four as he inhaled. Derek ran his hand gently up Stiles' back, waiting for his heart rate to slow down.</p><p> "Thank you." Stiles whispered, his lips brushing over his tan skin. Derek raked his fingers through his hair, scratching at his scalp in a surprisingly soothing manner.<br/>
"I've got you." Derek let him pull away, Scott had his confused face on again. God he missed his Scott, and his everything. </p><p> "That, um, that makes sense. Sorry, I just didn't expect, well you know. If the walls of this world are thin I can probably get back. I just need to figure out the spell, and you know find a coven to cast it with me. I... I need to sit down." Stiles sank into the freaking stairs, holding his head in his hands. Isaac moved to his side, opposite Derek, and put his hand on his shoulder. He winced when he took his pain, but it took the edge off his unsettled stomach, and his aching head.</p><p> "Thanks Isaac." Stiles patted his hand, he smiled down at him. The door still swung open on it's hinges, the smell of pine, and earth sweeping through the musty house.</p><p> "We should eat." Boyd suggested when the silence settled over them. </p><p> "Stiles and I can get something. I want to ask him about my Mom in his world." Scott offered, a half truth, Stiles was well versed enough in those to see it clearly in Scott's face.</p><p> "Is that what you want?" Derek crouched in front of him, Stiles leaned forward, letting his forehead touch his.</p><p> "Yeah, it will be good to hear about this Stiles. I doubt I'll be the one hunting if your worried about breakfast." Stiles shot Erica a look, she let out a little huff that could almost be a chuckle if she weren't so set on eyeing him suspiciously.</p><p> "Will you come back?" Derek whispered, his gaze open, and vulnerable in a way his Derek had never been.</p><p> "Of course I will, come on dude, you're pack." Stiles cupped his cheek, rubbing his thumb over the stubble on his jaw. Derek smiled, a real, heart melting smile. Stiles would definitely miss that smile, and the way this Derek knew how to emote. Derek helped him to his feet, watching Stiles leave with Scott. </p><p> "Melissa is totally fine in my world, she kind of takes care of us medically speaking, when we can't go to a regular hospital." Stiles focused on the ground, doing his best not to trip on anything while they moved through the woods.</p><p> "Why do you trust them? They're not pack, we're pack! You smell like he's been fucking you, and you are all cuddly, and it's just weird." Scott practically exploded with the questions when they were out of ear shot. Stiles stopped, really taking in the set of his shoulders, and the way Scott's eyes darted back and forth on the verge of paranoia, though perhaps it was warranted in this world.</p><p> "We are pack, Scott you are my best friend, and where I come from you're the alpha, but Derek, and his pack made you that. Without him we would have both been dead by week two of your turn. He saved my life more times than I can count. Derek, my Derek is family, he's pack, and we lost Erica, and Boyd. Isaac left, and Derek gave up his alpha spark to save his sister's life. I promise this is the pack you want.</p><p>"As for the sex, well that came as a bit of a surprise to me too. I'm pretty sure my Derek is straight, or maybe just so emotionally stunted from losing his family that he doesn't know how to be happy. Either way he doesn't want me, despite my mixed up feelings for the guy. I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at my Derek again, but I can't fix that now, so I guess I'm just leaning into it. Just, please give it a chance." Stiles grabbed his shoulders to keep him focused during his rant. Scott didn't look pleased, but he also didn't look ready to flee either.</p><p> "Fine, one shot, but he's not my alpha." Scott pouted, even apocalypse Scott could be a big baby, that was reassuring.</p><p> "You'd be stronger if he was, but that's up to you. Now how about you catch us a thumper so we can eat Fido?" Stiles punched him lightly in the arm, Scott rolled his eyes, tilting his head to listen. He shot off into the twisting green foliage, leaving Stiles to putter around the mossy underbrush in search of edibles.</p><p>Scott took forever to get back, but by the time he did Stiles had tied his shirt into a bag for the edibles he'd managed to find. He had long leaf Plantain, sage, some puff ball mushrooms, because they were the only ones he knew were edible, clover, and what he was fairly certain was huckleberry. </p><p> "What are you doing?" Scott snuck up on him, making Stiles jump with a very many squeak. He had a small deer slung over his shoulder, blood staining the white fur of it's throat until it dropped from it's chin.</p><p> "Collecting food, unlike some of us I don't have claws. I do however have small knowledge base from the scouts about foraging, so we shall not eat fire charred meat all by itself again." Stiles tripped his makeshift bag towards Scott.<br/>
"My Stiles didn't know that stuff." Scott looked at the contents, taking a huckleberry, and popping it into his mouth.</p><p> "Well he probably didn't get to join the scouts. Though Deaton helped, I've been learning magic from him, and you would be surprised how important it is to know if a plant is edible in magic. I made a potion that gave me a rash on my mouth for like three days once. Don't get me wrong, it worked, and it was better than dying of some kind of snake monster venom, but it was not super fun." Stiles tapped the book on his belt, Scott looked at it as if he'd only just realized it was there. The belt did that, made it hard to focus on, but he didn't need to hide it from Scott.</p><p> "Can you make more runes, like for me, or you?" Scott moved his gaze to the symbol over his chest that looked a bit like the helm of awe.</p><p> "Not on you, it's a scarification process, you guys just heal it. I can add more on me, but a lot of them need to be treated with other stuff. I was thinking about a night vision one though. I think I could make it work with Derek's blood. My phone is almost dead, and I don't have any other real form of light. Oh, or I bet I could find copper piping in one of the houses, in I grind it down, and use some kind of fish oil to make it a paste I bet that would work for a lightning rune. It's not like I couldn't reopen them if the treatment didn't work. Mercury would work, but it's also kind of dangerous because of, you know the whole losing your mind thing." Stiles' drifted off in his thoughts, it would be good to have more fire power if he was going to be stuck in the apocalypse. </p><p> "Stiles, people are hunting us, if you plan on staying alive long enough to get home, you'll need all the help you can get." Scott sniffed at him, grimacing slightly, but he forced himself to reach out, and pull him into a half hug, rubbing his nose against his shoulder.</p><p> "Thanks buddy, now come on, I'm starving." Stiles nodded back towards the house, Scott sighed the way he used to when his mom asked him to take out the trash.</p><p> "Yeah, alright." Scott lead him through the woods back to that burnt out Hale house. He had to wonder if it burnt with his family as it has in his time, or if the fire bombing had destroyed it. This world was nuts.</p><p>As soon as he walked through the door Derek hooked his arms around his waist, hauling him into his chest. Stiles laughed, leaning his head to one side to let Derek nuzzle into the side of his neck Scott hadn't used. Isaac, and Boyd touched his arm as they went outside to help with the deer. This was pack, for real, not like what Scott had in his world, they were connected in a raw, primal way that made Stiles feel safe, even in all this.</p><p> "Hey, Scott, and I were talking, and I have an idea, but I'm gonna need your help, what do you say?" Stiles turned in his arms, reaching up to pull him into a kiss just because he could. He hummed in contentment against Stiles.</p><p> "What can I do?" He only pulled back far enough to speak, his lips tickling Stiles' as he spoke, before leaning to kiss him again.</p><p> "Mm, stop that, there is work to be done." Stiles slapped his shoulder half-heartedly, Derek smirked, running his hands over Stiles' bare back.</p><p> "I need you to... Mm, bad dog... I need you to help me with a couple runes." Derek kissed his neck, biting roughly when Stiles called him a dog. Stiles didn't know how anyone got anything done with a boyfriend. He melted into his touch, the sound of arguing fading in from outside. Derek groaned, pulling away.</p><p> "Erica! Keep watch, don't argue!" Derek barked over his shoulder, Stiles whimpered, his dick straining against his jeans.</p><p> "I like when you take control." Stiles whispered, Derek lifted him up, pressing him back against the wall to taste him. </p><p> "Stiles! We can hear you!" Scott yelled, Stiles had never been so red in his entire life. Derek let him down with an exasperated sigh.</p><p> "What rune?" Derek had a wild look in his eyes, and Stiles knew it would only take one touch to break his self restraint. A huge, hormonal part of Stiles wanted to rip him over the edge, but he really needed this done.</p><p> "Right, runes. Um... Yeah, this one." Stiles pulled his grimoire out, he'd been workshoping half a dozen runes before he left, and this one was doable. Derek looked at the small, and relatively simple rune.</p><p> "That seems simple enough. What does it do?" Derek traced his fingers over the symbol, Stiles huffed, tapping his brow while he examined the pencil marks that had been erased half a dozen times.</p><p> "If it works it will let me see at night, and hear like you guys when I use it. Unfortunately it has to be carved in four places. Once on each temple, I'm thinking under the hairline would be best, and once on the upper cartilage of both ears.<br/>
Then you have to coat them in your blood, because you're the alpha, and well you exist in my world too, so I won't lose them when I go back." Stiles rubbed his ear, he hated cutting on himself, but it would be worth it if they worked. He hoped it did, because he hadn't been over this one with Deaton. He had told him to trust himself when he worked with magic, but that didn't come naturally to him.</p><p> "Okay." Derek traced the symbol with his claw over the banister, craving it into the wood. Stiles pulled his athame off his belt, holding it out to him by the hilt.</p><p> "I should sit. I'm kind of a baby about pain." Stiles moved to sit on the stair, Derek eyes the blade with a raised brow.</p><p> "Is it sharp enough?" Derek touched the blade with his claw, and it cut into it, shaving a sliver from his claw.</p><p> "You sharpened it, so I would think so." Stiles tilted his head, Derek ran his hand through his hair, a soft, reassuring stroke.</p><p> "It would be easier without all the hair." Derek shifted forward, kissing the top of his head. Stiles ruffled his own hair with a pout.</p><p> "Okay, shave it off. It'll grow back." Stiles shifted awkwardly to try and turn around. Derek laughed, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder. He slid up behind him, his legs on either side of him. Derek tilted his head where he needed it to go, using the athame like a straight razor to shave both sides of his head, leaving his hair in a stripe on the top. All the while one of Derek's hands massaged his scalp, soothing his aching head.</p><p>As soon as the throb of pain left him he found it hard to keep his eyes open. He lolled from side to side as Derek needed, his half lidded eyes watching the little black lines move through Derek's knees where they touched his sides, his sweats rolled up. He sucked in a gasp of surprise when Derek patted him on the shoulder.<br/>
"All done." The hand that held the athame out to him had a quickly healing cut across the pad of his pointer finger.</p><p> "Wow, uh, yeah, wow. Thank you. I think I fell asleep." Stiles blinked a few times to regain focus before taking the athame. He sheathed it, and scooped up his book, tucking it into it's case over his hip.</p><p> "I should check on the pack, you can sleep if you'd like. I'll wake you when food is ready. " Derek kissed his head as he brushed past him. Stiles shook his head, scrambling after him. He didn't want sleep, he wanted plans. He wanted to figure things out and get home. In the meantime he wanted to be with Derek while he could. </p><p>Outside they had managed to hang the deer off one of the trees, and were properly mangling it with their claws in an attempt to skin it. They'd gotten blood all over, and almost as much fur, some of which stuck to the meat, making it even less appetizing than a hanging dead thing already was.</p><p> "What are you doing?" Derek scowled, this was his scowl of disapproval, one Stiles knew well.</p><p> "Skinning it. We didn't have a knife. It's harder than it looks." Isaac looked over at them sheepishly from where he and Scott were trying to pull on the hide.</p><p> "Move." Derek ran his claw across the membrane holding the skin with the same ease and precision he had used to carve Stiles' runes. He made quick work of pulling it free down the the front legs, and head.</p><p> "Stiles! Dude, are you okay?" Scott went pale when he looked up at him, Stiles raised a brow, the slight twitch of muscle reminding him of the new wounds on his face. The tacky blood ran down his cheek, and dribbled into his chest. Stiles hadn't even noticed.</p><p> "Oh, yeah. It's all good. Derek did the wolf runes, they're three combined, and if they work they should let me tap into some of your wolfy powers. Sadly not the super strength, or wolverine like healing abilities, but night vision, and some super hearing. We'll see. I don't want to test them until they scab over. I think using my shield rune too soon, and too much is why I feel so out of it today." Stiles scrubbed at the blood on his chest, he hadn't even realized he'd left his shirt off. Everyone but Scott, and Erica were sporting the shirtless look. They were practically a pin up calender.</p><p> "I didn't expect there to be so much blood." Scott pulled a rag out of his back pocket, and went over to the water bucket. He came back, tilting his chin to try and clean Stiles up.</p><p> "Don't wipe off the runes themselves, they've got alpha blood on them, and it needs to stay put." Stiles took the rag from him, not entirely comfortable with everyone's tendency to manhandle him.</p><p> "Sorry. I like your hair though, it's how my Stiles kept his." Scott ruffled his hair, getting deer in it. Stiles swatted his hand away, flinching when Derek snapped the deer's neck, twisting until it fell off with the hide.</p><p> "Okay, that was gross." Stiles felt his stomach lurch, but there was nothing in it to throw up, so he just gagged, tasting stomach acid in his mouth.</p><p> "We should tan it, turn it into a bag so betty the barbarian here doesn't have to take his shirt off to collect his salad." Erica took it, looking around for a good place to stretch the hide.</p><p> "Rude. Some of us need nutrition not found in raw meat thank you!" Stiles yelled after her, she threw her hair over her shoulder in a bitchy little hair flip that somehow still worked despite the state of her hair. He looked over at Derek while he cut thin strips of meat free for Boyd, and Isaac to put out to dry, while Scott collected wood to start the fire.</p><p> "Why don't we just go to town, and see if we can't find some of the stuff we need. I mean obviously the big spot isn't open, but there has to be some stuff left over. The butcher used to keep huge bags of salt for making pastrami, and stuff. Not to mention the school might have a bag not made out of bambi." Stiles eyed Erica's work skeptically. Scott scoffed, snapping what could generously be call a small dead tree into manageable chunks.</p><p> "Most places have been looted, not to mention Beacon Hills was fire bombed." Scott tossed a splinter of wood at him, Stiles rolled his eyes.</p><p> "Okay, but that's kind of the point. Beacon Hills got fire bombed, so it probably didn't get looted, and not everything burns. The butcher kept the salt in the basement, that's where he prepped all his meat. The school locker room is all cement, and metal. There are a bunch of basements, and sellers that might still have stuff in them." Stiles dipped his knees with his arms open in an imploring gesture. They all shared a look, the sound of birds, and Erica breaking wood into usable pegs the only thing filling the moment of silence.</p><p> "He actually makes a good point." Boyd finally said.</p><p> "Thank you Boyd. see, I am not just a pretty face. " He waggled the bloody rag at them. Derek reached over, clapping a bloody hand on his cheek.</p><p> "It's just such a pretty face." He teased, Stiles made a face, hurrying to wipe himself clean.</p><p> "Oh, he jokes. I'm going." Stiles threw the rag at Scott, and turned back to the house, the afternoon light made it look like a goosebumps cover, all charred edges, and broken boards. Stiles didn't know how his life has become an R.L. Stine book, but at least those usually had happy endings.</p><p> "You can't go by yourself." Scott, and Derek yelled after him. The sun streaming through the door caught on the moats of dust floating in the air, dancing across the ashen floor.</p><p> "I have an entire wolf pack, why would I go alone?" Stiles dumped the contents of his shirt into the remains of a sink, the larger one beside it has been stopped up, and filled with water. He wasn't sure if this had once been the kitchen, or the laundry room, but there was only one wall still standing.</p><p> "Eat first, and I'll go with you." Derek came in to place a large slab of meat on a flat rock over the coals of the fire.</p><p> "We should probably split into groups, leave Erica, and Boyd with the deer, while Stiles and I search the old School, and you two can look for the butchers shop. " Scott dropped some of his fire wood by the fire place, but most of it was with Boyd, and Isaac so they could smoke the meat. Derek looked ready to fight him on that.</p><p> "As much as I'm digging the Stiles love Scotty, I should go with Derek. Hey, no, not for inappropriate, naked kinds of reasons. I know the town better than him, and so do you, which means we split up to show them where to go. This is about finding what we need, and maybe figuring out how to get your Stiles back. Also maybe keep an eye out for a building with all it's walls, because I love Casa de Hale, but it's a little extra crispy. I bet one of the warehouses made it through the fires." Stiles shook his shirt out once he'd untied the knots, dirt, and bits of grass flying out.</p><p> "Fine. You start with the school. We'll start at the warehouses, and we'll meet at my old house." Scott trudged back outside, Stiles rolled his eyes at him, pulling his shirt on. It was itchy now though from all the dirt, and bits of plant.</p><p> "Plans are good Scott! Big baby. Hey are you cooking that for me good lookin'?" Stiles slipped down to sit beside him. Derek moved his leg to press against him.</p><p> "Yes." Derek used his claws to flip it over before leaning back to steal a kiss.</p><p> "Thank you. Not just for this. You didn't know me out there, I'm not sure you really know me now, but you are taking care of me. I mean I love Scott, but I don't think he could have done this, which is why I didn't ask my Scott. That's not the point. The point is, why did you let me stay?" Stiles mumbled softly, trying to keep his voice low enough that only Derek could hear him. Derek paused his inspection of the steak that he had slathered in the soft belly fat from the deer to make up for their lack of butter.</p><p> "I don't know. You helped me, and the way you looked at me... Like I was important to you. I didn't want to lose that. It helped that you smelled like me, the other me." Derek stroked the back of his knuckles along Stiles' jaw, watching the blush creep up his cheeks.</p><p> "So I smelled yummy?" He got up to grab the mushrooms, and plantain to add to his steak, Derek caught the edge of his shirt.</p><p> "Yes, but it's more than that. Your Derek, he wants you too. The smell on you, it's not the same as if you'd worn his shirt. It's hard to explain." Derek met his eye, trying to convey how serious this was to him. Stiles snorted, swatting his hand away, and going to get his veggies.</p><p> "Okay, except that's crazy. Derek is mondo straight. He slept with like six women in two years, okay that is probably an exaggeration, but not by a lot." Stiles used his athame to slice the mushrooms, and set them in the sizzling meat fat.</p><p> "Wolves mate for life, gender is not important." Derek poked at the center of the steak, checking the colour. Stiles chewed on a plantain leaf with a small frown.</p><p> "To any of you?" Stiles had always been fairly flexible, but the idea of a supernatural bi bite sounded a little hinky.</p><p> "No, the person drives that desire, but there wolf doesn't care. You smell like you're mine, because his wolf has chosen you." Derek pulled the rock off the fire, slicing it into smaller chunks with his claws.</p><p> "Funky. Hey, while we're out we should look for somewhere we can clean off, because I'm starting to be able to smell myself, and I assume that can't be fun for you." Stiles didn't know how to have that conversation. The idea of Derek wanting him in the real world made his stomach do a funky little flip. Having felt his kiss, and tasted his cock made him want it so much more, but it also made it so much harder to imagine it actually happening. This Derek took one look at him, and declared his intentions pretty clearly, why wouldn't his Derek?</p><p> "I like the way you smell." Derek sniffed his neck before pushing the cooking stone towards him.</p><p> "That's because I smell like your spunk Mr. I need to be clean adjacent at the very least. I don't want a magical infection." Stiles tapped on his eyebrow, just in front of his new runes. Derek hummed his acceptance around a bite of steak that they were apparently sharing.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Coming to Terms</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Apocalypse Stiles settled in, but he's not so similar to the Stiles they lost. Unfortunately he's also not that different.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Stiles woke to a bang, and he sprung up, drawing his gun to point at the source of the noise, firing twice before he realized what was going on. Derek stood in the kitchen, clutching his chest while blood soaked his white vest.</p>
<p> "Really?" He grit out through clenched teeth , Stiles grimaced, putting his gun away. Even with the sun out the loft didn't get very bright.</p>
<p> "See what I mean about not wanting to stay with my Dad. Did they go through, or do I need to get them out?" Stiles vaulted the couch to come see if he was okay. Derek leaned over the sink, trying to contain the blood as best he could.</p>
<p> "They went through, and shot my wall!" Derek growled, turning on the water to wash his hands, and use the cloth dried in a c over the spout to wipe blood off said wall.</p>
<p> "I am so sorry, totally my bad. Stiles and loud noises are not mixy things when I first wake up. You should sit, or change. I can finish this. What is this?" Stiles turned to look at the pans that had been taken out, but no food had actually been started.</p>
<p> "Eggs, and bacon with hash browns because you ate everything else in my house." Derek peeled his shirt off, using it to wipe the blood off his chest. Stiles leaned back against the counter to openly watch the shift in his muscles.</p>
<p> "I have only eaten things that can be sourced in California since the war. I hadn't had enough to feel full for years. I think your fridge will live." Stiles opened the fridge, smiling at the little cracking noise of the seal breaking. Derek preferred this snarky, openly horny version of Stiles better than the one sprawled across his couch. Seeing him asleep made it hard to tell the difference between him, and the Stiles that belonged here.</p>
<p> "Deaton called. We'll go after breakfast." Derek wet his shirt, trying to get the blood off his back. Stiles set the eggs down and took the shirt from him.</p>
<p> "I got it. Calm down, I shot you, the least I can do is clean up the mess." Stiles put his hand on the small of his back to steady himself while he wiped the shirt slowly up his spine. Derek went tense, trying not to let it show in his stance.</p>
<p> "I like this. What's it mean?" Stiles traced his fingers over the tattoo on his back. Derek growled, snatching the shirt back, and tossing it in the sink.</p>
<p> "Stop!" He moved away from him, his eyes shining blue as he tried to slow his heart rate. He focused on the cardboard egg carton instead of the ghost of Stiles' touch.</p>
<p> "What? I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to do anything. I just liked the tattoo." Stiles held both hands up, his eyes wide. His heart rate told Derek he genuinely hadn't been trying to flirt with him. His reaction to the innocent touch landed solely on him. </p>
<p> "It's the symbol of my pack." Derek extended the small olive branch of information, his way of apologizing for snapping. </p>
<p> "I thought Scott used this as his symbol." Stiles lifted his tattooed arm, Derek looked at the two rings of black ink, the thicker of the two covering a mole on his wrist.</p>
<p> "He does. This was the pack I was born to." Derek reached up to touch his shoulder, his skin still tingling from the touch of Stiles' long fingers.</p>
<p> "Oh, so you weren't bitten or anything. That's cool. What a... Are they gone?" Stiles wrapped his arms around his waist in the first show of self consciousness since his arrival. Derek nodded, shifting away from the small space. Something about the gesture reminded him of Stiles, the real Stiles, and he didn't like it.</p>
<p> "That's gotta suck. I'm..." Stiles rubbed his hand over the shaved part of his head, shifting like he wanted to reach out to him.</p>
<p> "Don't, just... Just make breakfast. I need a shower." Derek cut him off, and hurried back to the bathroom. He sank against the door, shaking, and confused on so many levels. He wanted Stiles, of course he did. Stiles was... Everything, he was... he was just Stiles, but not like this. Not with some facsimile of the man he'd been pining over for almost three years. The problem was that his wolf couldn't tell the difference.</p>
<p>He felt like his body had betrayed him. He ripped off the last of his clothes, whipping them at the wall, his belt cracking against the tile, sending bits of ceramic scattering across the floor. He turned on the water, a shudder of his pipes for telling the blast of ice cold water he didn't bother to avoid. He needed to cool down.</p>
<p>Once the heat started to trickle back into his bones, and his muscles finally relaxed he could manage a few deep breaths. He leaned both hands against the tile, hanging his head to get the blood left on his back. This was not his Stiles. Stiles didn't touch him like that. Stiles tripped over his own feet, and rambled endlessly about comic books, or movies. Stiles made self depreciating jokes, and winked like his face had been electrocuted. Stiles wasn't a hardened soldier making confidant overtures. Stiles was good, and kind, and gone. </p>
<p> He rinsed off, pulling the shirt from the day before out of his hamper for something to wear until he got to his room. He didn't need this Stiles oggling him. It still smelled of Stiles, not the one in his kitchen, but his Stiles. Adderall, pop tarts, and anxiety over the scent of him. They needed to fix this.</p>
<p>He had Stiles take him to his Camero, since the Jeep was the only car at his loft, then lead him to the clinic. Of all the people in his life Peter was the one he least wanted to see right now, but he was the scent mixed with Deaton coming from the clinic.</p>
<p>"Wow, who's the creepy uncle?" Stiles nudged Derek as they walked into the back. The group stood in front of the store room, watching something through the little window. Peter turned in his deep v neck shirt to eye Stiles.</p>
<p> "Is our resident jester broken? Is that what brings us all here to torture a witch for information?" Peter crossed his arms to look down at Stiles with his most intimidating glare, which Stiles mostly seemed to find funny.</p>
<p> "This is my uncle Peter, and this is not Stiles." Derek pushed past them to look at the witch he had knocked out, who they had tied in a chair by the car food.</p>
<p> "Okay, spot on with the vibe dude, but I am definitely Stiles. I'm just not your average, garden variety Stiles. I'm like the spicy, post apocalypse Stiles." Derek grit his teeth at the implication that his Stiles was somehow average.</p>
<p> "He's a cheap knock off." Derek grumbled without thinking, he heard a soft inhale from Stiles, something he only did when a joke hit too hard.</p>
<p>"Wow, low blow sour wolf." Stiles steeled his features in a way Derek often did, something he'd never seen Stiles do. It hurt more to see than Derek had expected.</p>
<p> "As much fun as we're having with your lover's tif, we are here for a reason." Peter shook his head at them.</p>
<p> "Unfortunately Peter is right. It's a pleasure to meet you Stiles. My name is Deaton. I've been trying to use magic to coax the truth from our friend here, but they're warded against it. Peter here is our... Most convincing pack member." Deaton fixed a pleasant smile on his face, and even shook his hand. It made Derek's skin itch to watch him treat this Stiles like anyone else, like he belonged here.</p>
<p> "I'm pretty convincing myself. Let's see if we can't get him to tell us what happened." Stiles shoved past Derek, and into the small store room. The smell of synthetic cat food, and the stench of urine from the man consumed the room, making Derek gag.</p>
<p> "Hey buddy, finally awake? You remember me right?" Stiles tapped his side arm, he'd hardly convinced him to leave the assault rifle in the jeep. The man scanned the room like a cornered rabbit, his heart already beating fast.</p>
<p> "You... You killed them all!" He squeaked, Peter looked over at Derek, silently asking if that was true. Derek nodded slightly, the sly smile of approval on his features felt like ice in his veins. His Stiles would never have taken a life so flippantly.</p>
<p> "I know, it was crazy, but you did stab me first, so fair's fair. I promise not to shoot you though. See you took something from these nice people. He looked a lot like me, though probably not quite so dashing. If you tell us what you did I won't even rip out your fingernails." Stiles leaned against the arms of the chair, his breath fanning across the man's beard. Derek could smell the fear wafting through the room, but the man took on a look of determination.</p>
<p> "I won't tell you anything! You killed them." He spit, Stiles grinned, darting forward, and bit the man's ear off before they could stop him. He spit it back on the man's lap while he grinned, and Derek dragged him out of the room.</p>
<p> "Nice touch dragging me out. He'll so talk to you when you go back in." Stiles spit blood into the floor, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.</p>
<p> "What the hell was that?" Derek had no words, he'd just savaged that man without even flinching. Stiles picked a piece of that man out of his teeth with the gall to look confused.</p>
<p> "What do you mean? Peter said we were torturing him. An ear is easy, and it really rattles people, plus it doesn't really do that much damage. He's fine. You want your Stiles back don't you? " He still had blood on his breath as he spoke, Derek found his words stuck in his throat, he could hardly make himself breathe. He didn't even know the man in front of him, wearing Stiles face.</p>
<p> "We didn't need to maim him." He finally managed, his voice weak, and rough with the effort to force out the words. Peter slammed the door open, letting it clang loudly against the far wall, a grin spread across his features.</p>
<p> "I like this Stiles! I think we should keep him." Peter clapped his shoulder, Stiles smiled, another slap in the face with what was wrong. Peter's approval should disgust him as much as the blood on his chin disgusted Derek.</p>
<p> "No." Derek said, his hands shaking with the effort of restraining his rage. He looked up at some chart Deaton had on the wall about feline obesity to try and calm down.</p>
<p> "Don't mind him, he's in denial. The witch talked, he won't stop talking in fact. The doc's sewing his ear back on. Turns out they were trying to resurrect some crazy witch woman with her ashes in that statue that your clumsier half broke. I'm sure Deaton will have a whole plan, in the mean time I think you deserve a soda." Peter directed him towards the small fridge, and tossed him a coke. Stiles didn't drink coke, it upset his stomach. This Stiles did.</p>
<p>Derek moved over to the operating table, leaning heavily across the cold metal surface. His methods may be wrong, but at least they would know what to do now. Deaton would come out, and tell them how to fix this. Tomorrow he could talk this through with his Stiles, because Stiles was the only person Derek talked to. He followed Scott, but he trusted Stiles.</p>
<p> "You want one? You look like the one who got tortured." Stiles held a soda can out towards him, Derek looked up at it. Coke. He didn't drink Coke. Stiles knew that.</p>
<p> "Thanks." He took the cold can, pressing it to the back of his neck.</p>
<p> "I'm sorry if I went too far. Gerard Argent taught me how to extract information. It's not elegant, but it works." Stiles picked at the drying blood on the back of his hand, flakes crumbling off, and scattering across the floor. He wasn't his Stiles, but he was still Stiles.</p>
<p> "You got it done, we just have to follow laws here." Derek opened his soda, sipping at it, his brows pinching together at the taste of acid, and caramel colouring.</p>
<p> "You don't like Coke do you?" Stiles rolled the edge of his can on the metal table, leaving little drops of condensation behind.</p>
<p> "No." He set it aside. Stiles twanged the tab on his soda a couple times, worrying his lip between his teeth.</p>
<p> "You like tea, and juice. I bet you're a flavoured water kind of guy aren't you?" Stiles looked up at him through his lashes, Derek chuckled.</p>
<p> "I am. Pellegrino." He said, leaning forward to grab a wet wipe out of the box Deaton kept next to his rubber gloves.</p>
<p> "Oof, so basic." Stiles took the offered cloth from between his two fingers, a smile tugging at his lips.</p>
<p>"Not everyone can guzzle doctor pepper, and fanta." Derek watched Stiles clean off his hand, and wipe at his face, trying to see his reflection in the table.</p>
<p> "What? You don't wanna, wanna fanta?" Stiles looked up at him, tilting his head back and forth, Derek pointed to the corner of his lip, and Stiles quickly cleaned it. Derek hooked the small metal trash can with his foot, sliding it over for Stiles.</p>
<p> "No." He said just as Deaton came back out of the store room. He set his tools aside to sterilize with a heavy frown.</p>
<p> "What's up doc?" Stiles tossed the wet wipe, and shoved the can back into the corner.</p>
<p> "The spell they used seems to be fairly straightforward, they mistakenly believed it would resurrect their fallen comrade. The spell actually transfers the target from one world to another, in your case it traded our Stiles for you, meaning he is as suspected, residing in your world. If Stiles hadn't interceded they would have used their hostage, and the ashes of their fallen friend to try and retrieve a living counterpart That is the good news. The bad news is that I can't cast the spell without a coven. If we can retrieve their grimoire we may be able to find a way to work around it. He gave us the location of their home base as it were."  Deaton moved to the sink to wash the blood from his hands, there was too much blood in his life lately.</p>
<p> "Alright! Solid lead, let's go check out their creepy villain lair. I love breaking down doors, there's something satisfying, and way bad ass about breaking a lock in. No cheating, and using your wolfy powers! " Stiles backed up towards the door, using finger guns at Derek. He shook his head, holding his phone out to Deaton to get the address. </p>
<p> "Be careful, witches have a tendency to leave traps, you'll likely encounter mountain ash at the very least." Deaton filled in the location , handing it back to Derek, he checked it, and slipped the phone back in his pocket.</p>
<p> "We'll be fine. Get Scott to find the ingredients we know." Derek looked at his Camero briefly, but it didn't make sense to drive there separately. He sighed, going to the jeep, running his hand along the dent where Stiles had been thrown against it. It had dislocated his shoulder. As much as he loves his car the jeep had a character like no other.</p>
<p> "You getting in, or were you just gonna run alongside?" Stiles leaned over, opening the door for him. Derek slid into the passenger side, his eyes lingering in the black stain on the floor from when he'd been shot.</p>
<p> "Man, your Stiles did not take care of my baby." Stiles scrubbed at the claw marks on the dash from when Scott had just started to turn.</p>
<p> "Stiles held us together. All of us." Derek slid his fingers into a set of claw marks from his own hand. Stiles watched him, looking over the damage with a renewed interest.</p>
<p> "I am pretty awesome like that." Stiles patted the dash with loving reverence before he pulled away from the clinic. Derek hummed his agreement, which shocked Stiles more than anything he'd said this far. Derek enjoyed the little up tick in his heart rate.</p>
<p> "This... Is not what I expected." Stiles parked in the driveway of a quaint little ranch style house, it even had a picket fence.</p>
<p> "You always complain about the dingy warehouses, and train depots, you think you'd be pleased." Derek got out, sniffing at the place. He shook his head, snorting at the smell of mountain ash, and something else. Whatever it was it made his head feel fuzzy, he turned trying to cough it out of his lungs.</p>
<p> "Hey, you alright big fella?" Stiles rounded the jeep to rap on his back. Derek held a hand up to indicate he needed a moment.</p>
<p> "I'm... I'm fine." He spit off to the side, trying to stop the itching in his lungs.<br/> "Sure, so they have wolf's bane pollen here or something?" Stiles leaned into the back of his jeep, and pulled out a water bottle. Derek used it to rinse out his mouth, then drank half of it in one go.</p>
<p> "No, it's mountain ash, and something else. I can't place it. I'll be fine. I can't tell if anyone is in the house though." Derek set the water bottle aside, clearing his throat a couple times. Stiles frowned, pulling out his side arm.</p>
<p> "I guess we'll just have to do it the old fashioned way. Are you okay to go inside? I can do it myself, I've breached my share of houses alone." Stiles still had his hand on his back, Derek shook his head, straightening up.</p>
<p> "I'm going." He trudged up to the door, and found it unlocked. The wood had cheery blue paint on it, and inside it looked like a quaint little home. Mail piled up on the table beside the door, and coats hung beside an umbrella on the hooks beside it. </p>
<p> "So you think one of them lived here, or did they kill this family?" Stiles put a hand on his back, using him like a shield as he rounded corners, and cleared rooms. </p>
<p> "Kitchen." Derek could see a pot boiling on the stove, giving off steam, but he couldn't smell anything. He blinked hard, trying to keep his eyes focused. His claws came out, dragging against the wall to keep him on his feet.</p>
<p> "Derek?" Stiles moved the hand from between his shoulders, to try and support him. Something moved behind them, he could hardly see, but it wasn't Stiles.</p>
<p> "Down." Derek growled, grabbing Stiles by the neck, and knocking him against the wall, the sound of a gun shot made his ears ring. They fell to the floor, his body felt heavy, and slow. He couldn't make his legs move. Another gun shot, and something dropped.</p>
<p> "Derek!" The voice sounded distant, his head swimming. He turned, vomiting. He probably shouldn't have come inside.</p>
<p> "Come on Derek wake up!" He was sitting now, his face pressed against glass. The jeep. Something was shaking him. Stiles?</p>
<p> "Jesus Christ you are heavy! Come on, I've got you. Please don't struggle, I will definitely drop you." Derek had something jabbing him in the stomach. He was moving. Jostling. He reached out, his hand closing on the shirt fabric. He could smell blood, and Stiles. So much blood.</p>
<p> "Stiles! Back here, goodness, you've been shot! What happened?" That voice belonged to Deaton, he really wished he could open his eyes. His head slammed against metal as he was dropped into a table.</p>
<p> "I'm fine, they were boiling something, Derek said it smelled like mountain ash, and something he couldn't identify. Whatever it is did this. I brought it. Here. I brought everything they had, and their grimoire. Whatever it is I can't get him to wake up." Stiles. He could hear the note of panic in his voice. Smell the anxiety coming off him. He reached out blindly.</p>
<p> "Hey! I'm here. You're gonna be okay." Stiles took his hand, his gangly hands were hard to mistake for anyone else, even now. Something sprayed up his nose, ugh, it smelled like ammonia. He turned, coughing until he choked, hacking up black bile that turned his stomach. A hand stroked his back, trying to sooth him.</p>
<p> "He'll be okay, that will flush it from his lungs." An overhead light turned his eyelids red, and hurt his eyes</p>
<p>"Stiles?" Derek croaked, and then the light disappeared , replaced by the gentle touch of someone's brow to his own. A pack gesture, familial, yet somehow glaringly intimate with the heat of Stiles' breath across his lips.</p>
<p> "I'm right here, I got you." He squeezed his hand, bringing it up to his chest. He forced his eyes open, still gritty with whatever had been in the air.</p>
<p> "You're shot." He looked down at the duct tape wrapped around his arm, over his shirt, which now driipped blood on Deaton's floor.</p>
<p> "Only a little. Thanks for that by the way. You really saved my bacon in there. Don't worry, I shot him back, it only seemed fair. " Stiles grinned, then winced at the pull in his shoulder. Derek sat up, swatting him in the back of the head.</p>
<p> "Get it fixed!" He growled, Stiles chuckled letting him go to take off his shirt. Derek moved to a chair, his eyes drifting closed while Deaton cleaned him up. He woke with a start some time later. The sun has begun to set, showering the room in an array of soft pinks, and orange. Stiles had what he hopes was a copy of ona of the pages from the book, leaning against the table, and stuffing his face with curly fries.</p>
<p> "So... Look here. I think, and you'll have to tell me if I'm wrong, but I think if I have like a magic battery or something I can skip out on the coven. The problem is I'd have to be the one to cast it. See, if it's someone else we need a circle of mages of something." Stiles picked up another page to present it to Deaton. There were papers everywhere.</p>
<p> "Yes, the subject would have to be encircled by the casters. It isn't impossible to imagine you casting it however. It's not quite the same principle as the runic magic I was teaching him, but you have the potential." Deaton flipped back through the grimoire. Stiles shifted awkwardly, scratching at his neck.</p>
<p> "I don't know, I'm kind of skittish with magic. I mean where I come from magic literally exploded, and a lot of people died. Why don't we teach the pack, we could probably even muster up five of them to do it like they did?" Stiles fidgeted with the bandage on his arm, his heart rate through the roof.</p>
<p> "Because only humans can use magic Stiles. We can draw power from the pack, but they can't cast anything." Deaton explained, Derek got to his feet, shifting the focus of the nearly panicking Stiles.</p>
<p> "We'll look for another way Stiles." Derek still sounded a bit groggy even to his own ears, but the gravel of his voice soothed Stiles. He took a deep breath, and his heart rate lowered to what could almost be considered normal.</p>
<p> "He's right, of course, but in the meantime I'd like to give you an exorcise to try and learn magical focus. Nothing dangerous, simply something that can be done while we look for another way." Deaton turned back to his desk, and pulled a delicate feather pendant from a drawer. The pinion had a sheen from the glycerin used to preserve it.</p>
<p> "This is a focus for simple wind magic, a tool I used to teach Stiles control previously. You simply hold it, and attempt to will the flames of a candle to blow out. It's important to let it flow through you, without forcing it. He had a book with some meditation techniques that helped him understand the process better. You might be wise to go to his home, and retrieve it." Deaton held the necklace out to him, Stiles eyed it the way their Stiles would have eyed a gun, as if it would explode when he touched it. Derek took it, giving Deaton a small nod.</p>
<p> "You drive." He said, hanging it around Stiles' neck, he frowned at it, but made no move to take it off.</p>
<p> "If we're headed to see my Dad we should stop and get some groceries. I'd bet he hasn't eaten a vegetable since his Stiles left." He said, nearly running into the door while he focused on the feather dangling in front of the DC logo on his shirt.</p>
<p> "I could use some things too." Derek slid into the car, it still has a touch of the sour sick smell from his earlier near death experience.</p>
<p> "Wait. I mean, um, I don't want to be that guy, but I don't have any cash. I actually haven't used money to pay for anything ever. Like I know it's a thing. I've seen it. Dad used to use it all the time, but the Argents bartered, and outside you kind of just took stuff when you found it." Stiles reached over to fidget with the radio. Derek slapped his hand away, turning it off.</p>
<p> "Eyes on the road. I'll buy." Derek sunk lower in his seat. He didn't love the idea of doing something as domestic as grocery shopping with Stiles.</p>
<p> "Thanks sugar wolf. Can I get pop tarts? The last ones I had were so stale I chipped a tooth." Stiles stuck his finger in his mouth to show him the chipped molar.</p>
<p> "Only if you don't ever call me that again." Derek tried to tune out the entire experience, but eventually Stiles had the cart half full, and started rushing down the isles, and hoping on the back. </p>
<p> "Stop that! What are you five?" Derek barked when Stiles nearly ran into a shelf. Stiles leaned back until he was bent awkwardly enough to look at him.</p>
<p> "Cart surfing is the best part of shopping. You should try it you big sour... Big buzz kill." Stiles laughed, but the motion jostled the cart enough to send it toppling over backwards. Derek hooked his arm around Stiles waist, hauling him backwards, and letting the cart fall loudly back into four wheels.</p>
<p> "Don't break things." He glowered down at him, Stiles grimaced before shooting him a sheepish smile.</p>
<p> "My bad. Thanks for the save superman." Stiles patted his hand, which Derek realized was still tucked firmly around Stiles' trim waist. Derek shoved him back towards the cart, a bit rougher than necessary. Stiles chuckled, making his way towards the register. They easily had two hundred dollars worth of groceries, but given that every item of junk food Stiles added came with a story about the last time he'd seen it, years, and years ago Derek found it difficult to tell him no.</p>
<p> "Hey Stiles, I like the hair." The girl behind the register smiled at him, he clearly didn't recognize her, but he flashed her a megawatt smile none the less.</p>
<p> "Thanks, it's my dashing post apocalypse ranger hair, that and gum does not come out easy." He leaned in to whisper the last part, she giggled, pressing herself closer to the check out, leaning just a bit more of her cleavage into his view. Derek could smell the stink of arousal off her.</p>
<p> "I was thinking of getting an under cut, it just gets so hot, but I love my hair long, don't you think?" She touched his hand where it sat on the lane.</p>
<p> "Who doesn't love chestnut curls, but I think you'd look just as good with short hair." He winked, and oh God, his whole face scrunched up like it always did.</p>
<p> "Move." Derek out his hand on the small of his back to shift him out of the way. He only did it to pay, but the little smirk Stiles gave him said it may have come off as territorial.</p>
<p> "Don't mind the big bad wolf, he's just mad I ate all the bacon." Stiles stepped back to let him at the card reader. She blushed, looking Derek up and down.</p>
<p> "You ate everything." Derek grumbled, she watched them with the same hungry look as when it had just been Stiles, if not with a bit more interest. Derek grabbed the last bags, hurrying away from that deeply uncomfortable situation.</p>
<p> "Oh man, she totally wanted us! Look, she gave me her number!" Stiles turned the receipt over to show him the hastily scrawled numbers.</p>
<p> "She thinks we're a couple." Derek loaded the groceries into the jeep as quickly as he could without looking as uncomfortable as he felt.</p>
<p> "Don't look at me, you did that. You practically growled at her." Stiles leaned over to the driver's side with a smug grin.</p>
<p> "I don't need be the one explaining to Stiles why the clerk is upset he didn't call her back." Derek dismissed, Stiles rolled his eyes, but made no further comment.</p>
<p> "Hey... Does Dad know about you guys? My Dad, he sort of kept it from us until it was too late, and I don't know, I feel like I would have made the same mistake." Stiles kept his eyes firmly on the road as the pulled up to his house.</p>
<p> "He didn't always, but he knows." Derek got out before he'd even turned the engine off, and retrieved the bags for the sheriff. Derek went in without knocking, Stiles was with him, and Stiles would not have knocked.</p>
<p> "You were the last person I expected to see doing my grocery shopping." The Sheriff said when he looked up from the mess of case files laid out in the table. Derek just nodded behind him to where Stiles had four too many bags on his arms.</p>
<p> "Ah, so this is a raid, only vegetables, and rice. Soon I'll be on bread and water rations like a POW." The Sheriff chuckled , getting up to help Stiles with his bags. He dropped them in the kitchen, and pulled his Dad into a hug.</p>
<p> "You mock, but one day you'll miss things like fresh cinnamon, or Idaho potatoes with broccoli and cheese." Stiles poked him in the gut, the Sheriff ruffled his hair, frowning when he realized how greasy it was.</p>
<p> "If you say so. Why don't you go shower before you run off again. Derek and I can put this away." He held him at arms length by the shoulders. Stiles blushed, looking between the two of them.</p>
<p> "I'll cook." Derek mumbled, leaving the potatoes, broccoli, and cheese out for Stiles, and steak to appease the sheriff.</p>
<p> "Sweet. You're the best, love you Dad!" Stiles backed away with an excess of finger guns for the second time that day.</p>
<p> "Is he alright?" The Sheriff came up behind him, working to fit the absurd amount of good into the kitchen.</p>
<p> "As much as he can be. He got shot. Not much, barely a scratch, but he's shaken up." Derek hurried to finish speaking before the Sheriff could panic. He still made a face, looking up the stairs after his son. It wasn't entirely a lie. He found it best to treat the Sheriff like lying to a wolf, because he was just as keen at spotting a lie.</p>
<p> "What happened? " He sounded so defeated, perhaps Stiles had been right to not want to tell him the truth.</p>
<p> "It was a straggler from the witch coven. I think he's the one who shot the others. I shot him before he could take a second shot at Stiles." Derek didn't hesitate to lie there, as open as the Sheriff was to their lifestyle, but hearing his son had gunned down eight people would be hard to live with.</p>
<p> "I wish I lived a life where I didn't have to thank you for killing a man to save my son. Is that why he's been staying with you?" The Sheriff turned the oven on for the potatoes, and leaned against the far counter. Derek as a rule didn't talk to the Sheriff very often, but he knew Stiles would want him to look after him.</p>
<p> "He's been having nightmares, he didn't want you to worry. He sleeps on the couch." Derek mixed the softened butter with his seasonings, and spread it across the top of each steak while the pan got hot.</p>
<p> "He spends too much time worrying about me. Don't think it escaped my notice that he's carrying an unregistered side arm. He's just a kid, but he keeps throwing himself into dangerous situations like it's his job. " He leaned over the counter, pinching the bridge of his nose.</p>
<p> "He does plan to intern with the FBI next year." Derek set each steak butter side down into the pan, enjoying the way it sizzled. Soon the entire room smelled of frying meat.</p>
<p> "Oh, I know. I miss the times when his grades were my biggest worry." Derek nodded, letting the kitchen fall into silence, filled by sizzling steak, and the distant sound of Stiles singing along to pop songs poorly.</p>
<p> "Are the two of you dating?" The Sheriff finally asked the question he'd been mulling over. Derek nearly choked on his tongue.</p>
<p> "No! Not, no." Derek said, the Sheriff raised a brow at him, much the way his son often did.</p>
<p> "Not yet?" He pressed, Derek growled down at the steak, trying to figure out how to say he liked his son, but his real son didn't like him.</p>
<p> "Stiles makes his own choices." Derek mumbled, the Sheriff scoffed, handing him an oven mitt for the potatoes.</p>
<p> "Just try and remember he's not as sure of himself as he makes people think." The Sheriff went back to the table, clearing his case files to set out the dishes. Stiles took the steps two at a time with a towel still around his shoulders to ruffle through his hair. He sported clean clothes that hadn't lived in his jeep for the last month, including a plaid shirt.</p>
<p> "Hey kiddo, just in time." The Sheriff smiled at him, Stiles clapped his shoulder on the way by, going to sniff around the kitchen.</p>
<p> "Showers are amazing here, feel this towel, it's so soft!" Stiles picked a potato off the top of the pan puffing with an open mouth as the hot cheese stuck to his tongue.</p>
<p> "Sit." Derek nudged him out of the way to set the casserole dish down. Stiles slid into one of the chairs, bouncing one of his legs maniacally.</p>
<p> "Did you take your adderall?" His Dad tilted his head to look at his bouncing leg.<br/> "Yeah, it's in the jeep." Stiles said, not entirely sure that it was true, but he knew there were pills in the glove box.</p>
<p> "Eat." Derek slapped a steak on to his plate, Stiles groaned, trying not to drool on the table. He scrambled up to heap the cheesy potatoes, and broccoli beside the steak.</p>
<p> "This is what it's all about! Here Dad, you need like six servings of these, they're so delicious." Stiles piled a small mountain of potatoes on his plate before he stopped him. Derek felt odd sitting at the Stilinski's dinner table, the only other time he'd eaten with Stiles had been as a teenager named Miguel. It felt nice though. It gave him an unexpected sense of family.</p>
<p> "This is delicious Derek, thank you." The Sheriff gave him a firm nod of approval. Derek returned the nod, but didn't feel right saying anything.</p>
<p> "Did Derek tell you about the cashier that was drooling over me when we were at the store. This whole being eighteen thing is really working for me!" Stiles waggled his eyebrows in a way that made him look as if he were having a stroke.</p>
<p> "He did not. I can't imagine why such an exciting tail didn't come up." His Dad watched Stiles fondly while he told the tail in an over dramatization, complete with different voices.</p>
<p> "I do not sound like that." Derek got up to clear the table as he got to the part about Derek swatting him out of the way.</p>
<p> "Please, that is a spot on impersonation! Come on Dad, back me up here." Stiles waved his last fork full of potatoes at him, which had been pilfered from the dish.</p>
<p> "You sound like a Batman villain son, even he doesn't sound that bad." His Dad said, Derek raised a smug brow at him. Stiles threw his hand up in exasperation. </p>
<p> "Nobody appreciates my art. Alright, I gotta go practice magic apparently, so don't stay up all night with your case." Stiles pointed at the stack of paper the Sheriff had ready to be returned to the table.</p>
<p> "Only if you promise to sleep before sun rise." He shot back, Stiles made a series of noncommittal head motions, backing towards the door.</p>
<p> "I love you son, you know you can talk to me about anything right?" He got up to intercept him by the door. Stiles' features softened, and he fell into a hug from his Dad.</p>
<p> "I know. I love you too, I promise things are okay. Confusing, but good mostly. If there is any talk necessary you'll be the first to know." Stiles met his hard stare, drawing out the moment with heavy silence.</p>
<p> "Okay. Don't eat Derek out of house and home." He clapped Stiles on the cheek, Stiles blew a raspberry.</p>
<p> "I'm a joy to have around." Derek shared a look with the Sheriff before ushering Stiles put of the house. They drove in silence nearly the entire way back to the clinic.</p>
<p> "It's good to see him, but it's hard. How do I reconcile the idea that I can see him now, hug him, and worry about him, but when I get back home he'll be dead again?" Stiles whispered as they pulled into the parking space beside the Camaro.</p>
<p> "Enjoy it now. Grieve later." Derek said honestly, staying in the car long enough for silence to settle around them.</p>
<p> "Yeah. I got the book though, so we can figure this thing out, and get him back his son. Yay magic." His words positively dripped with sarcasm, Derek put his hand on his shoulder in a brief show of solidarity before he got out. They drove back to his place separately.</p>
<p> "So you don't meditate by any chance do you, because I feel like that would help?" Stiles set a tea light candle down on the coffee table with a bright orange bic lighter.</p>
<p> "No." Derek went to his desk to read in hopes it wouldn't distract him. Stiles flipped through the book, lighting the candle, and pulling his knees up to sit cross legged all at the same time. He shifted, frowning at the pages.</p>
<p> "How do you empty your mind? It's for thinking you know, I think stuff. I can't just not think things. Can you think nothing? Is that a thing you can do? Oh God, I can't even stop thinking about not thonking!" Stiles looked up at him, Derek quietly raised a brow at him.</p>
<p> "Right, because if anyone could empty their head it would be you. Werewolf of not so many words. You're probably all empty all the time. Empty headed werewolves." Stiles tried to scoot back, then forward, then he slid into the floor. He took the necklace off, and stared at it, then pointed it at the candle like a wand, then spun it on the rope, trying to use it to fan the candle out.</p>
<p> "Stiles." Derek got up, and crossed the room to kneel beside him. He allowed himself to breach his space, almost intimately close.</p>
<p> "Hey, look, I know this important. I'm trying, it's just... Calm and I have never been close." Stiles looked down at the feather in his lap with a blush.</p>
<p> "I know. Close your eyes." Derek said, Stiles watched him for a moment, then nodded slightly, letting his eyes droop closed.</p>
<p> "You sleep everywhere. I know you can shut everything else out, so just draw yourself in like that." Derek let his eyes trail over his face, reaching up to touch the small scar across his cheek bone. He soothed the pad of his thumb over his skin, listening to his heart rate spike, then trail off as he didn't press for more. He had never allowed himself to touch Stiles like this, but he knew it would quiet his mind. He'd rambled about how Malia had done it before, stroking down his jaw.</p>
<p> "Blow out the candle Stiles." He whispered, a soft gust of wind snuffed the flame, but with his eyes closed he didn't know. His face twisted in frustration.</p>
<p> "I can't!" Stiles whined, Derek pulled his hand away.</p>
<p> "You already did. Now do it again." Derek got up, brushing his knees off, and retreating from the living area.</p>
<p> "Where are you going?" Stiles tracked his movements, his mouth hanging open.</p>
<p> "To bed." He didn't look back, he could smell how desperately Stiles wanted him to stay, feel it in the air, even hear it in the waver of his voice.</p>
<p> "Oh, goodnight. Thank you, I mean, now that I've done it, maybe it will be easy to do again, I just... Thank you. Yeah, goodnight." Stiles snapped his mouth closed fast enough his teeth clacked together.</p>
<p> "Goodnight Stiles." Derek went and hid in his room, this was going to take a long time, and he didn't know if he had the will power to have Stiles in him home the entire time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Hunted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Not everyone is a big fan of Stiles' new pack.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warning, depiction of withdrawal. Also I think this chapter got a little long. My bad.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"All I'm saying is that the school seemed so much closer with my jeep. Please tell me we're almost there!" Stiles ached all over, he'd fully given up on shirts forever, which definitely meant he would be sun burnt tomorrow, but every inch of him positively dripped with sweat. He needed water like nobody's business.</p><p> "It's over the hill. I could carry you." Derek offered, holding a hand out to him, Stiles happily took his hand, leaning against his shoulder.</p><p> "As much as I appreciate the offer I don't need you to carry me like a damsel. I do need a frosty beverage post haste however." Stiles kissed the inside of his wrist, nuzzling against the pulse point.</p><p> "There's a lake between the school and downtown, we can stop on the way through." Derek twisted his arm up to wrap around his shoulders. He kissed the top of his head as the crossed the rise of the hill. Stiles stopped, the air choking from his lungs at the sight before him. For the first time he got a look at the school, and the town beyond it.</p><p>He had expected it to be burnt, honestly he wouldn't have been shocked if the town were still on fire. What he hadn't expected was the way the forest encroached on it all. The school had burned like everything else, but only the roof had really taken much damage. The walls still stood, covered with creeping vines, and moss. The windows had broken in the fire, letting in wind, and debris beyond just the collapsed ceilings. A tree grew up from what he suspected to be the remains of the gym.</p><p> "Stiles?" Derek watched him, slipping both arms down to his waist to hold him loosely from behind. Stiles leaned back into him, finally remembering to shut his gaping mouth.</p><p> "Sorry, it's just the everything of this, you know. I knew it was destroyed, but this is just... It's so real. Totally awesome, in a zombie movie kind of way, but also kind of a lot to take in. I mean I was here a week ago, Finstock yelled at me for tracking mud into his office. Now it's probably all mud, and plants, and mold. There must be so much mold. I don't have my inhaler. I have asthma, mold is so not good for me. No, it's fine, it's... Yeah, it's a lot. Let's go, I need a backpack, and like twelve water bottles." Stiles shook himself as a flock of birds flew out of the home ec room. The afternoon sun made the greens a vibrant contrast to the blackened bricks.Stiles</p><p>The supports still stood in the veranda, but now they held a tangle of vines for them to weave through in an effort to get to an entrance they could get through. They made it to the door near the lacrosse field, which was just as grown over as the others. Stiles grabbed the pull bar, yanking it back, which did nothing except send rust, and dirt raining down on his head in his valiant attempt to rattle it open.</p><p> "Let me." Derek reached up, digging his claws into the metal, and ripped the entire door off it's hinges. His eyes shimmered with red as he tossed it into the overgrown grass.</p><p> "Holy bad ass Batman! That was so cool, I've seen you wolf out before, but never to destroy school property, well maybe once with a locker, but damn! That was hot!" Stiles took a step back to run his gaze over Derek's muscular, and still fairly naked form.</p><p> "Yeah?" Derek smirked, stalking towards him. Stiles yelped when he lifted him off the ground, and pinned him against the building. He let his eyes glow red while he ran his tongue along his jaw.</p><p> "Jesus! Derek, oh God that's, mm, no we're outside." Stiles slapped weakly at his arm, leaning his head back to give him better access.</p><p> "No one is here." Derek growled, the sound rumbling through Stiles while he ground against him.</p><p> "You, are a... Mm, bad, bad man." Stiles mumbled between each kiss, working his hand under the elastic of his sweatpants to stroke him slowly.</p><p> "I want inside you." Derek groaned, hooking his hand around Stiles' ass freeing a hand to undo his jeans.</p><p> "Fuck! Yes! Yes, let's do that." Stiles dropped his feet, kicking off his shoes frantically. Derek chuckled, tossing his sweats aside while Stiles hopped on one foot to try and get his clothes off, he stumbled when his pants got stuck on one foot. Derek hooked his arm around his middle to keep him from falling.</p><p> "The things you do to me." Derek pulled him back into his chest, burying his face between his cheeks to work his tongue into him. Very wet, and unbelievably hot.</p><p> "Holy hell! Oh God! Derek! Fuck!" Stiles bent forward trying to brace himself against the remaining door while Derek moved to bite the soft skin of his inner thigh and work a finger into him slowly.</p><p> "Your taste." He licked up the seam of his balls, hooking his finger to brush against his prostate. Stiles whimpered, his cock jumping against his stomach, leaving a smear of precum behind.</p><p> "Your smell." Derek reached around to stroke him, keeping his touch light, just enough to make him back back into his added fingers, stretching him wider.</p><p> "The sounds you make." Derek stood up, twisting around to present himself to Stiles, who eagerly sucked him into his mouth. Derek growled, throwing his head back while he left him slick, and wet.</p><p> "That mouth!" Derek yanked him back, pressing against his silken embrace. Stiles arched back to grip his hand.</p><p> "What? Tell me." Stiles reveled in the way his eyes shifted, and his grip tightened on his hip. Derek bent down to press his nose to the nape of Stiles neck.</p><p> "Mine!" He snarled, pressing into him. It stung, but in a delicious sort of agony. Stiles' knees went weak, but Derek held him up with ease.</p><p> "Yes! Derek, yes! Oh God, yes!" Stiles pushed back into him, and Derek rocked forward, setting a punishing pace. His sweat slicked back pressed into his chest, the smell of sex, and summer air made his head swim.</p><p> "Please! Derek, I... I need..." Stiles reached down to touch himself, but Derek slapped his hand away, shifting the angle to rub across his prostate with every thrust. Stiles gasped, spilling across the twisting ivy, and rusted metal. He clenched around him, sending Derek tumbling over the edge. He let out a deafening roar of his name as he came inside him. They fell roughly against the door, smearing Stiles' cum across them both.</p><p> "Gross, when we get to that lake I think we need a bath, because under a blacklight I would look like a Jackson Pollack." Stiles mumbled, laying his head back against Derek's shoulder while he was still inside him.</p><p> "I like it." Derek pressed his nose against his neck, taking a deep breath to revel in his scent. He stroked two fingers over the tender mark on the back of his neck.</p><p> "You would. You didn't break the skin back there did you, because as much as I like this, and being part of the pack I don't want to be a wolf. It would really be a bummer, magically speaking." Stiles rolled off him, earning a little whine of protest.</p><p> "No. I was careful. I wouldn't." Derek leaned over to lick the inside of his thigh clean before he could get off his knees. Stiles shuddered, crawling out of his reach.</p><p> "Stop! I'm all over sensitive!" Stiles drug out the o in stop to four syllables, flopping down in the grass. Derek chuckled, lunging after him.</p><p> "You are delicious." He grinned, an honest to God, dimple causing grin, pressing his head to Stiles' brow. Stiles couldn't help smiling up at him.</p><p> "I love you." The words slipped out before Stiles could stop them, his filter had never been great while working at full capacity, but post orgasm... He had no chance.</p><p> "No, I, you, but, I know I don't know you, you, but Derek... Shit! Forget I said that, that's so dumb, it's just everything he... And then you... With the sex, and... It's stupid forget I said that." Stiles blushed, trying to wiggle away from him, but Derek had him pinned against the grass.</p><p> "You love him, and I have his face, his scent. I can touch you with his hands, but when you kiss me, you taste him." Derek didn't sound upset, which honestly only made it worse. He leaned back, giving him space to breathe, but not quite releasing him. The sun shone behind his head, washing out his features, and he was right, in that moment it was easy to imagine his Derek in his lap.</p><p> "You are him, just with a different life. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make things weird. It's just that almost everything I know about you is because he told me. Are you mad?" Stiles whispered, Derek ran his fingers across the marks on his neck, which had begun to add up.</p><p> "No. You're a ghost here Stiles. I knew that." Derek got to his feet, going to retrieve his sweatpants. Stiles got up, in much more shaky legs, struggling to pull his pants up.</p><p> "That doesn't mean I get a free pass to mess with your head. You are amazing, and really, really, crazy good at, at all that. You're super model hot, and you trusted me after people like me used you to hurt people, to hurt your pack. I am a complete ass here. I really like you, and that's because of you, not because Derek from my world is all..." He waved his hand spastically in his direction. "Is all Derek too." </p><p> "I'm more than happy to take what I can get. " Derek used Stiles' shirt to wipe his mouth before tossing it back to him.</p><p> "You know it's a lot easier to feel bad if you yell at me." Stiles pouted, Derek shrugged, disappearing into the darkness of the building. Being back in the school after so much destruction unsettled him. Derek's silence as they picked there way through hanging wire, and fallen chunks of ceiling certainly didn't help.</p><p> "Okay, so you're a quiet angry sort of guy, that's cool. I can totally handle the silent treatment. I once talked through an entire six hours car ride while my parents were fighting, and I was only five then." Stiles tripped over a slab of roof tar, grabbing for anything to keep him up. Derek's arm shot out, hauling him back up.</p><p> "Pay attention." He poked the still very sore rune over his temple, letting him go. Stiles didn't want to use it before it healed, but it had been six hours give it take, which was way longer than last time. It wasn't so dark that he couldn't see, but night vision would probably help. He sighed, touching each of the runes with one finger.</p><p>The dim surroundings came into sharp relief, washing out into an array of pale yellows, and blue over the grey surroundings. He reached out to touch what he knew to be a red locker, but the weather worn paint looked yellow and grey under his fingers.</p><p> "We should open these." Stiles didn't know what condition the contents would be in, but it would be good to check. Derek yanked one open with a loud snap of cheap metal, and moved down the line, pulling them all open. The fire had been hot enough to melt some of the plastic through the metal doors, but not to catch the paper on fire in most. Now it has turned to a yellow, warped mess, some even had mushrooms growing from the pages.</p><p> "Backpack! Score!" Stiles pulled a grey, and yellow bag from a locker, the bungie on the front had rotted, and didn't snap back when it caught on the locker, but the synthetic fabric of the bag it's self seemed fine. He dumped out yellowed pages, and melted pens, one of which was now part of the bottom of the bag. He kept the pencils, they would still work, and even one weathered notebook.</p><p> "Here." Derek held a dark muted yellow hoody out to him, but he'd frozen in place when he saw him.</p><p> "What?" Stiles reached out and took the stiff fabric, the zipper had a layer of calcification that wasn't quite rust. It didn't look like it would zip.</p><p> "Your eyes." He whispered, Stiles pulled a couple lockers open until he found one that still had a mirror attached to it. One made of metal, and not glass. The Stiles reflecting there looked ghastly yellow, probably his sun burn. His eyes shone the same yellow as the sweatshirt.</p><p> "They're... Are they red, I think this wolf sight thing made me colour blind?" He pulled the mirror off, stuffing it in his bag.</p><p> "Their alpha eyes." He said, Stiles smiled, reaching out to touch him, moving slow to give him time to pull away. He didn't, instead when Stiles brushed his thumb over Derek's brow his eyes fluttered shut, and he pushed into the touch.</p><p> "They're your eyes technically. The spell only works as long as your alive to be the catalyst. Is that okay?" Stiles whispered , Derek sighed, wrapping an arm loosly around his waist.</p><p> "Yes. More than okay." He pressed a kiss the inside of his wrist, Stiles hummed in contentment, trying not to pull away from the tickle of his stubble.</p><p> "Yeah, you like the whole mark your territory thing don't you? I don't think it gets more, this is mine, than me walking around seeing through your eyes." Stiles shifted closer, and Derek leaned down to kiss him. A slow burn of desire, setting him alight. </p><p> "Keep searching." Derek pulled back, a bit rough, a possessive hand still cupping his neck, Stiles rolled his eyes.</p><p> "Yes alpha." He clicked his teeth at Derek, making him groan before reluctantly going back to the search. They found a few other items of interest as they picked there way into the locker room, including two metal water bottles, a black utility jacket in Derek's size, a couple shirts for Erica, and a box of old school shirts that were still the clean maroon fabric, but the yellow school mascot had peeled off, leaving only flecks of yellow screen printing clinging to the fabric.</p><p>By the time they made it down town they were mostly clean, if not a bit soggy, and had a few interesting things, but Stiles still wanted to go to the Argent's house. He hoped their creepy torture/armoury basement would still be there. Unfortunately they needed to wait for Scott first, and he was taking forever.</p><p> "You could wait, and I could just pop over there for a quick peak. It's not far from my old house, I know exactly where I'm going. It'll take twenty minutes tops." Stiles paced in front of the burnt out shell of the McCall house. He had very pointedly avoided his old house, he didn't need that trauma if he could avoid it. Derek looked up from where he'd been trying to put an edge back on a kitchen knife they'd saved from the butcher's.</p><p> "No." He said for the fifth time, Stiles groaned, swinging his bag around. He felt uneasy, like they were surrounded by ghosts.</p><p> "I'm not some helpless baby human, I've got bad ass magic now. You know what, if you're going to be a worry wort, I'll work on that. I found some copper wire. I think I can do an electric thing. I would love to be able to charge my phone." Stiles plopped down in the middle of the street, and wiggled his grimoire out from under his backpack. Derek shook his head, keeping his eyes on their surroundings. Something felt off, like eyes on his back, and it showed in the way he held himself. If he weren't so tense Stiles might have pushed it.</p><p> "Isaac, Scott." Derek pushed himself off the steps of the porch before Stiles could even see them. They came up the road with bags, one that looked like a laptop bag, and the other might have been a purse. Isaac was talking as if they could hear, Derek could obviously, Stiles scrambled to turn on his wolf sense.</p><p> "We found a train depot with mostly functional facilities. I think we should bring the group back there once we get back. Oh man, Stiles was right. Lots of places had stuff. There was even a lock up at the precinct that still had live ammunition, a lot of it is gassed off, but we took what was good." The closer they got the louder he became, eventually Stiles had to turn the rune off. He needed to work on the control still. it was there, but he wasn't very good at it.</p><p> "Stiles. I found something I thought you'd want." Scott whispered, he had that look he got when he had to tell a customer their puppy didn't make it. Stiles looked around the cracked streets, and overgrown houses, not sure he wanted to know.</p><p> "Okay." He finally ran out of acceptable stalling time, and couldn't find an excuse to avoid it. Scott pulled a simple police issue side arm out of his bag, with a cracked leather holster. Stiles took it, trying to figure out why it looked so familiar. It smelled like ash, and dirt, with some kind of film stained over the handle. </p><p> "Is this..." Stiles couldn't finish, because the tarnished badge now in the palm of Scott's hand had his father's name carved into it, under the star. Stiles snatched it away from him, clutching the metal until it dug into his skin, blood from his already wounded hand trickling down his fingers.</p><p> "Stiles!" Derek was there before he could choke out another breath. His vision had spots in it. Was he breathing at all? Derek wrapped his arms around him, and Stiles gasped in a shuddering sob of air. He was really crushing it with the panic attacks lately. </p><p> "It's not him, your Dad is alive, and safe in your world." Derek broke through the spiral of desperation, his words ending the whirlwind of my Dad is dead, my Dad is dead before it could pull him under.</p><p> "We cleaned it, and loaded it, but you don't have to carry it Stiles." Scott touched his elbow, Isaac came over to his other side, putting a hand on his back.</p><p> "No... It's, thank you. Thank you." Stiles hid his face against Derek's shoulder, trying to dry his eyes on the mothball scented fabric of his jacket. He pulled back, unbuckling his belt, and adding it on his right side. The badge, now stained with his blood, got wiped clean on his shirt before he tucked it into his backpack.</p><p> "Stiles, the other Stiles, he still has panic attacks over it sometimes. He had nightmares." Scott told him, Stiles nodded, tracing his fingers over the handle of his father's gun.</p><p> "He's all we had. Probably more so for the other me. I uh, I wanted to check the Argent house, in my world they had an armoury in their basement. Stuff we could use to keep everyone safe. After that we can check out the warehouse, and head back to the Hale's." Stiles said, walking off, he knew they would follow. He just couldn't stand still. He couldn't think about that. He didn't want to think about anything. </p><p>The sun has started to move towards the horizon, and he wanted to get back. It sunk low, stretching the shadows out around them until they seemed to move with them. Like eyes on the dark. Something was wrong. The Argent house had collapsed completely, and scrub brush grew from the ruins. Something about it felt haunted..</p><p> "We should leave it, even if we can clear the debris it will take all day. We can come back." Stiles tripped over a twisted chunk of metal, an arrow whizzing past where he had just been as he fell. </p><p> "Stiles! " Derek and Scott both let out a protective roar, Scott ran for the attacker, and Derek ran to him. Stiles thumped his fist to his chest, throwing up his shield as a rain of bullets came down on them. Derek picked him off the ground, and ran for the alley across the street. </p><p> "We have to get Scott, and Isaac!" Stiles grabbed the corner of the crumbling brick building, forcing Derek to set him down.</p><p> "Stay!" He snarled, rushing back into the frey. Stiles couldn't see where they were shooting from, he could hear them fighting, but he didn't have a sight line. He moved through the broken building towards where Derek had run. Shattered glass crunching under his feet. He drew his gun, clambering a round as he got closer to the sounds of fighting.</p><p>He scrambled up a pile of broken brick, and burnt debris to try and get a line in the fight, backsliding when a bullet zinged past his head. Something moved behind him, and he shot without thinking. Before he could get on his feet someone came over the rise at him, gun aimed at his head. Three more shots, his ears were ringing, and his heart raged against his ribs, making it painful to breathe. The person above him fell, a tangle of warm limbs, and hard joints crashing over him. </p><p>They slid back down the brick together, and Stiles struggled to escape them. They weren't fighting. When they got to the bottom of the hill they were thrown off him, and Derek looked down at him with panic in his red eyes.</p><p> "I'm okay." Stiles choked out, not sure he was telling the truth. His hands were shaking, and he'd definitely taken some damage from the bricks, but he didn't think he'd been hit. Derek pulled him to his feet, checking him over quickly. Stiles looked at the man who had fallen on him, his body twisted up, blood soaking into the brick, and his arm bent back the wrong direction.</p><p>Stiles promptly turned and threw up. He'd seen bodies, even helped bury them, but he'd never made one. Stomach acid, and chunks of half digested meat filled the ruined space with the acrid smell of sick. His eyes caught moment behind a fallen beam, and he remembered his first shot.</p><p> "There were... There were two." Stiles stumbled towards the beam, stepping in his own vomit, and behind it Jackson held a gun weakly on him, while he tried to keep the blood in his body. The hole in his side pumped out a steady gush of it nearly black between his fingers.</p><p> "Jackson?" Stiles gasped, he dropped his arm, unable to hold it up a second longer. Stiles ran to his side, tripping over the beam, and scraping his knees through his jeans. He ripped open his bag yanking out a shirt with a scatter of pencils, and other small supplies. Jackson watched him while he pressed it down on his wound, blood soaking through it.</p><p> "Stiles, we need to go." Derek touched his shoulder, Stiles shook him off.</p><p> "No! I need... I need to stop the bleeding. We need to cauterize it! Start a fire!" Stiles looked up at him, Derek frowned, looking around at the destruction, and dead bodie, more would come. He leaned down to sniff at Jackson, who had lost consciousness now.</p><p> "We don't have time. That bullet went through his liver, even if you stop the bleeding he'll be septic. " Derek whispered, Stiles scrambled for his pocket with his free hand, pulling it inside out, but the lighter wasn't there. No! No! There had to be something! Stiles drew his athame, carving with shaky hands into his left wrist.</p><p> "Stiles! What the hell?" Derek tried to grab at him, Stiles shoved him back.</p><p> "I have to save him Derek! It's Jackson! Lydia's Jackson, I can't... I have to save him. He's pack!" Stiles fumbled the gun off his belt, his hands slick with blood. It took four tries to get the clip out, his left hand not entirely cooperating with him.<br/> "Okay. What do you need?" Stiles held the bullet out to him.</p><p> "Gun powder." He leaned to scrape the charcoal from the beam beside him. Derek cracked the bullet with his teeth, and poured the powder into Stiles ' outstretched palm, blood dripping from the finger. He mixed it with the ash, and coal with his finger before rubbinng it into his new rune. He tapped it twice, and pulled his fingers down to his hand. </p><p>The rune lit up like molten metal ran through his veins. Stiles gasped, gritting his teeth as the skin around the mark turned black and fire trickled up to wrap around his hand. Stiles tossed the blood soaked shirt, and plunged his fingers into the bullet wound. It sizzled, blood boiling away, and Jackson bucked up into him, screaming in pain.</p><p> "It's not enough, he needs the bite." Stiles tugged him into his lap, working his burning fingers into the exit wound. Derek's eyes went wide.</p><p> "You want me to bite an Argent? " Derek growled, Stiles gave a sharp nod, shaking his hand to put out the flames. The blackened flesh around his rune throbbed, he suspected that damage wouldn't heal with the rune.</p><p> "He's a Whitmore actually, and yes. If I hit his liver it's the only thing I can think of that will help him." Stiles weaved his bloody fingers with Jackson's , holding the arm out to Derek while he kept him pressed against his chest with the other hand.</p><p> "Or it could kill him! Stiles I don't just give the bite to anyone. It's a gift!" Derek took a step back, taking in the sights of Stiles drenched in another man's blood, tears streaming down his determined face.</p><p> "It didn't kill him in my world. Derek he's pack, or he could be. Look he's a dick, but he's there when you need him, and Lydia will need him. I need him alive! Please!" Stiles struggled to lift him, blood dripping from them to the stain of death, and vomit on the debris around them.</p><p> "Derek! We have to go!" Isaac yelled down at them, Derek looked at Stiles, his expression clear. He wouldn't leave without Jackson. Derek growled, his eyes going red, as he pulled Jackson's hand into his mouth, nipping it with his wolf teeth.</p><p> "It might not end the way it did before. I warned you." Derek fixed Stiles with a crimson scowl, and lifted Jackson over his shoulder so they could run. They went to the train depot, night had descended while they fought for their lives, and they couldn't risk running through the woods if there were hunters out. Derek dropped Jackson on the floor as soon as they were inside, disappearing to the roof to  warn the others. His howl an ominous addition to an  already terrifying night.</p><p> "What the hell is Jackson doing here?" Scott came over to him, his eyes going to the blackened patch of skin around the slowly healing rune on his arm.</p><p> "I shot him, and someone else. A kid, younger than us. He didn't even look human after the fall. I couldn't let him die." Stiles put his fist to his mouth as it welled up with saliva. He shuffled to one of the barrels near the bay door, leaning over it to dry heave. It tugged at his ribs, and tensed his shoulders while he tried to stop.</p><p> "He was trying to kill us, they all were." Scott gestured to the new hole in his shirt, Stiles opened his bag, frowning at the blood he'd gotten all over it.</p><p> "I assume we did the same thing before you were bitten. Scott, it's Jackson." He pulled his shirt off, using it to try and clean some of the blood off him before he changed into one of the maroon shirts from his bag. He didn't think his shirt could be saved, but they might need a rag, so he draped it over a rail instead of tossing it in the one he'd been heaving over.</p><p> "Yeah, and even when we were on the same side Jackson was an ass hole! Tell me this isn't about Lydia?" Scott had started to yell, his voice echoed through the open depot. After all the shit he'd given Derek for living in the dusty old train depot before, he'd never expected it to feel like luxury. The cars could even serve as rooms for each of them.</p><p> "Okay, yes, but not in the way you're implying. I didn't mean to kill anyone. I didn't want to kill them, God that body is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, but Jackson is one of us. He was in your pack in my world. More importantly I need Lydia to do the spell that will get me home. Not because she's crazy smart, or because I had some dumb school boy crush on her ages ago. She's a banshee." Stiles crossed his arms, he didn't feel cold, but he couldn't stop shaking. Shock probably, he could still see that kid's body when he closed his eyes, and he still had so much blood on him.</p><p> "No way, I mean she is crazy smart, emphasis on the crazy, but she's human." Scott looked back at Jackson with renewed interest.</p><p> "It's a latent thing. Peter activated it in my world, but she shouldn't need to be active for the spell to work. I just need her blood. Look, Scott, Jackson is important, and he didn't deserve to die. None of us do. I'm tired, and starving, can we talk about this tomorrow?" Stiles mumbled, running his hand through the longer section of his hair.</p><p> "Fine, but this is definitely not going to go well." Scott set his bag down, digging through it until he could pull out two coffee cans, one has beans, and one had rice in it.</p><p> "I'll make beans and rice. Did you get salt?" Isaac proudly held up a pot. Stiles nodded, pointing to his bag, but he didn't have it in him to get it. He stumbled to one of the train cars, and flipped down on an extra shirt as a pillow. Before he could even smell the fire they started he had knocked out.</p><p> "What the hell did you do to me Stalinki?" Jackson's yell woke him, and as soon as he opened his eyes his head started to pound.</p><p> "I saved your life." He groaned, Derek wasn't in sight, but Isaac, and Scott we're trying to calm him down.</p><p> "You fucking shot me, and then I'm pretty sure you lit me one fire, but now there are no wounds. I know what that means. You made me one of those things!" He pointed at Isaac, there was no way he actually knew Isaac was one, unless he'd seen him collard.</p><p> "Would you rather I let you die, because I wasn't going to let you kill me or my friends?" Stiles tried to sit up, but the whole room was spinning. He felt overheated, and he could feel his shirt sticking to his skin.</p><p> "Maybe you shouldn't have left then. We were hunting the pack, not you morons, but I guess now we know who let the pack free!" Jackson grabbed the front of his shirt, jostling him around, and Stiles flopped like a rag doll.</p><p> "Gerard sent them after us because Scott got bitten, just like he will with you. If he catches you, so you think he'll put a bullet in your head, or a collar on your neck?" Stiles snapped, shoving Jackson back, and collapsing on to his back.</p><p> "He wouldn't do that! I'm not some freak, I'm one of Gerard's favourite hunters!" Jackson puffed up with the pride of it. Stiles sagged towards the edge of the train car, his stomach churning, and his mouth watering.</p><p> "So were we." Stiles bluffed, he had no idea if that was true, but he couldn't do this right now. He could hardly move. He looked up at the sound of the door, pleased to see Derek come in with Erica, and Boyd. Everyone was safe.</p><p> "Stiles?" Scott shuffled closer, no longer concerned by Jackson's angry ranting. Stiles couldn't muster a response. He just heaved over the edge of the train car. He still hadn't eaten, so he retched up acid, tugging at his ribs like his stomach wanted to escape through his mouth. Once he started, he couldn't stop. </p><p> "You can't just fake sick to get out of this conversation Stalinski!" Jackson took a step toward him, but found himself confronted by the brick wall of Derek's chest. He roared down at him, sending Jackson scrambling for the furthest corner. Even Scott flinched away from him.</p><p> "Stiles? What's wrong?" Scott rubbed his back, gesturing for Isaac to bring the vomit barrel to him.</p><p> "It's not the rune? You used it too soon." Derek brushed the hair that stuck to his brow back. He had sweat so much it slicked back with ease.</p><p> "It's... Hu! Oh God!... It's withdrawal." Stiles managed through his gut wrenching vomit fit. Derek looked over at Scott in confusion. Stiles could hardly get enough air to breathe before he retched again.</p><p> "From what?" Scott pulled the barrel Isaac brought up in front of him. He spit into it, almost wishing there was something to void from his stomach to stop the pain.</p><p> "Ah... Add... Adderall. An... Upper for... For ADD." He gave up any further explanation to dry heave until his eyes watered, and his chest hurt. Each desperate clench of his stomach sent a spike of agony through his skull. How could he have forgotten about his adderall? </p><p>"Will you be okay?" Derek had no experience with human problems, the bastard. Stiles opened his mouth to explain, but withdrawal tugged at the fish hook it had in his stomach, trying to tear out his innards with wave after wave of dry heaving.</p><p>"He'll live, as long as we can keep him hydrated." Erica filled in for him, bringing a water bottle over. He gave her what he hopes translated to a look of gratitude before returning to his new and exciting life of vomiting. </p><p> "How long will he be like this?" Derek put his hand on his back, and the pain eased back to a dull ache. Stiles chances a look up, black lines running all the way up Derek's arm, to the grimace on his face.</p><p> "I don't know. It depends how long he was taking it, and how dependant his body is on it. Four five days, most of the month, who knows." She held the water out to him. He took a small sip, Derek seemed to be helping, and he hopes he could get it to his stomach before he threw it back up.</p><p> "I should sleep. It will help some." Stiles panted, wiping his mouth. Erica shook her head, pushing the bottle towards him.</p><p> "Water first. When you wake up we need to get some of that rice and beans in you." She said with a stern face, he sipped at the water in way of answering. He got about half of it down before it started to upset his stomach. Derek joined him in the train car, never letting go of him. Now that the pain was less he'd started to shake, his heart racing in his chest. He was so warm! He ripped his shirt over his head, curling into Derek's lap.</p><p>When he woke up next he felt so cold. His whole body shivered, and he groped closer to who he realized was Isaac. He waved to someone, and a warm body pressed against his back, soft, and smaller than most. Erica. </p><p> "Eat." She whispered, holding a spoon in front of him. He wrapped his mouth around it, but he could hardly summon the strength to chew. He woke up with a mush of rice and bean sour in his mouth. His whole body ached, like he had acid in his veins, and he was hot, so unbelievably hot. He moved away from the body spooning him, and Derek followed him with a gentle hand on his wrist.</p><p> "Can you drink?" He moved the hand to his neck, leaving a tender trail of firing nerves behind his finger tips. Derek pushed him up, and made him take a few sips. The cool water felt like heaven in his mouth, but burned in his soar throat.</p><p> "Ow." He whispered , trying to push the bottle away without opening his eyes.</p><p> "Okay." He set it aside, and held him close. It was too hot, he could feel his back slick against Derek's chest. Gross. Oh no! He scrambled up, heaving up the water over the edge of the train car. The dry heaving came after. Derek kept the pain at bay, but it still made his chest ache, and his insides churn. It settled quicker this time. He may have passed out in the middle.</p><p> He was having a seizure. That had to be it. His whole body shook, violently. He clutched at the person near him. We're they carrying him? Oh God, he was so cold. Like ice in his lungs. He couldn't breathe. He just wanted to die! He turned throwing up down someone's side. He smelled piss. That was him wasn't it? Awesome.</p><p> "How long have I been out of it?" Stiles mumbled into the arm of the person carrying him.</p><p> "Two and nearly a half days. You woke up, and ate the entire pot of beans, then threw up, and ate another one. You started chewing on my shirt, and like just stared up at nothing for six hours." Scott spoke from beside him, so he wasn't carrying him.</p><p> "Derek?" His voice sounded like he'd run it through a blender.</p><p> "Here." Derek squeezed his arm. Derek carried him.</p><p> "I threw up in you. " He let out an absolutely pathetic whine.</p><p> "More than once." He set him down, keeping a hand on the nape of his neck while Scott took his shoes off.</p><p> "I'm gross, and so hungry." Stiles reached down, bringing his shirt collar to his mouth to chew on.</p><p> "Stop that." Derek growled, and Scott pulled the shirt from his mouth, replacing it with a hard strip of meat. Stiles chew on it, his stomach twisting like it could reach up and take it.</p><p> "I'm so tired." Stiles leaned back, and Derek's hand caught him. The problem was that despite the soul crushing exhaustion he couldn't make himself sleep. He renewed his interest in the meat stick, tearing bits of it off the end.</p><p> "Up." Derek hooked his hands under his armpits, and hauled him to his feet. Stiles stood, his muscles aching. Derek knocked his knees in, dragging him forward.</p><p> "Cold!" Stiles hiked his bare feet up when they touched the water.</p><p> "It's not cold. You have a fever." Derek kept moving forward until they were both shoulder deep in the lake. Stiles shook, pressing closer to Derek's warmth. His clothes soaked through, and he only then realized he still had them on.</p><p> "Jackson?" Stiles tried to focus on something else, not that his mind had any trouble thinking about six things at a time right now.</p><p> "He's fine, still a dick, but he's easing into the pack dynamic. The real problem is that Boyd, and Erica keep catching whiffs of other people around town. They haven't run into them yet, but there are at least half a dozen, maybe more. Though it could be more than one group." Scott explained while he washed out Stiles' socks. The shimmering lake had begun to come into focus, surrounded by a wall of brilliant green trees. It hurt to look at.</p><p> "Or it could be one group of hunters. We need to get the word out to Lydia that Jackson is alive, maybe let him patrol if he's up to it. Not alone, obviously, but with Erica and Boyd. I think if she sees him that she'll come to us. Is anyone foraging, we need better food than this shoe leather? We should try and grow stuff on top of the depot. All the buildings are growing things, it wouldn't look that odd. Oh! I should find the Nemeton! I could do all kinds of thing if it's active, actually I bet the spell to get home could use..." Derek dunked him under the water, he flailed, sputtering , and coughing as he resurfaced.</p><p> "You're rambling." Derek shrugged off Stiles' incredulous stare. Stiles would be more upset if the sudden dip hadn't cleared his head a bit. He looked down at the rune on his arm, it had healed, but the blackened skin around it didn't seem like it would go away. Bits had peeled off, leaving it red, and raw, but mostly it had begun to heal into a dark leathery patch bursting out from the rune.</p><p> "I do that. Without adderall I'll do it a lot more. When we get back can we set up two more runes? I have an idea." Stiles brushed his thumb over the scar, ignoring the pain. He had a low ache in his whole body, what was a little burn?</p><p> "As long as you let them heal." Derek watched his fingers as they moved over the damaged skin.</p><p> "Fair enough." Stiles sagged against Derek's chest while he scrubbed at his clothes. Stiles gave them up, and changed into sweats, and a long john shirt when they got out. Derek took the time to wash them, and a few other items properly before they headed back. Stiles tried to walk, but he didn't get far before Derek picked him up. He was too tired to argue.</p><p>The walk back didn't take long once he had a wolf to ride. Isaac, and Jackson looked up from where Isaac prepped meat, and Jackson had a makeshift table of guns he was cleaning, and reassembling.</p><p> "Hey. You're awake. How you doing? Are you hungry, because I'm smoking more meat, but Erica found honey, so I'm thinking honey glazed... Bird, I don't know what kind of bird it was, with the potatoes I dug up yesterday." Isaac popped up, coming over to hover near him while Derek set him in the train car.</p><p> "That sounds delicious, I'm starving, and I'm consciously aware of how shitty I feel, so I guess that's something. I'm not sure if it's my favourite step in the right direction, but still. Hey Jackson. I wanted to apologize to you. I mean I definitely saved your life, but I also didn't really give you a choice, and that was not cool. I thought maybe if you wanted you could start going out with Erica, and Boyd. I think Lydia is probably looking for you, and you should be there if she finds us, because it's Lydia, and she will definitely find us." Stiles leaned himself against the door of the train car to keep himself upright.</p><p> "You should. I was doing pretty well with you two gone, and now I sleep in a train. We only have one blanket, and you guys have no crops. I have no idea how you plan to get through winter, much less survive Gerard." Jackson crossed his arms, Stiles frowned , looking back at the food Isaac had been preparing.</p><p> "You're right, as much as it pains me to say, we're not set up yet. We should keep those potatoes, or most of them. Once they sprout eyes we can plant each of the eyes, and get potatoes going, and I bet we could get dandelions to grow around the depot. You can eat, like everything in a dandelion. Smoked and salted meat won't be enough. As for Gerard, I have a plan for that." Stiles let his head drop against the metal frame, talking was exhausting. Jackson watched him for a moment. </p><p> "I cleared out an orchard three weeks ago off the highway. It would take a couple of days to get there, but Gerard said it was too far out to keep people in, so he sent a crew to pick everything and said we'd plant out own. I bet there's fruit there again, they would have left the stuff that wasn't ripe. " Jackson said, all puffed up like sharing this information made him some kind of saint.</p><p> "I can go check it out if you can mark it on the map." Isaac pointed to where they had taken a rest stop sign from somewhere with a county map on it.</p><p> "Take Boyd, and any bags we have." Derek sat beside him, stroking his hand up and down Stiles' back.</p><p> "Shouldn't I go? I am the one that was there before." Jackson bristled, Stiles bounced his leg. He felt restless, like he should be up, and moving, but he didn't have it in him to do it.</p><p> "No. If Lydia shows up, and you're not here she'll probably light is all on fire." Stiles pulled his grimoire out, flipping through the pages too fast to really absorb information.</p><p> "Whatever." He went with Isaac to show him on the map. </p><p> "Stiles, your heart is racing." Derek whispered, he nodded, he supposed that made sense.</p><p> "Yeah. Adderall is supposed to calm me down, help me focus. I had a lot of panic attacks before they put me on it. I can hardly focus long enough to read a sentence, but I'm too tired to get up. You have no idea how badly I want to pace right now." Stiles yawned, looking around for a pencil, he found a pile of them in the corner where there we some scribbled runes.</p><p> "Hey, that's it. Did I do these? I feel like I did these." Stiles touched the sort of manically drawn images.</p><p> "Yes. You were difficult to contain. You spent twelve hours throwing a ball Boyd brought you at the wall before Erica took it away." Derek said, Stiles looked down at his hand, he really wished he still had that ball.</p><p> "It's not going to get better for a while. I need to be doing twelve things at once to feel active right now. I just, I have techniques to help focus, the ball thing helps me think, I usually do it while I pace, but I'm so drained. I feel like I've been staring at that ceiling a lot. I don't know, I'm still so out of it. I lost a ton of time, like when you say I did something I remember it, but it's sort of fuzzy, like I wasn't paying attention." Stiles traced his finger nail over the rune, over an over until a splinter caught him. He pulled back, shaking his hand.</p><p> "I think I can handle that." Derek nuzzled into his shoulder from behind, Stiles sighed, pressing into him.</p><p> "I'm so hungry." Stiles complained, Derek gave him another of the tough beef sticks.</p><p> "Are all of you carrying snausages for me?" He gnawed at it, picking up a pencil, scratching the rune on the floor, adding lines to it. The base was simple, but the connections were a bit trickier to make work.</p><p> "Yes. You were eating everything in sight, it takes you a while to get through those." Derek put a hand on his knee, which had started bouncing again.</p><p> "I feel like I could eat a horse, but that is probably not wise, or available actually. No, um the runes. I have two that I think are ready. One is, well it's a little more useful now, but the other is cool. I need to grind down that copper we found, and unfortunately I need a magnet, oh, or the potatoes! We did that in science once. No, a magnet would be better. The point is I'll need a spark. The other one is easier, but also kind of unpleasant. We have string right? Oh, or wire, obviously not the copper stuff, though that could be an interesting added bonus. Actually, yes, copper is better. Ugh, we'd have to sharpen the wire. That is going to suck!" Derek leaned in and kissed him, the slow press of his lips stopping the runaway train of thought.</p><p> "Tell me what to do." Derek spoke the words into his lips, his stubble tickling his chin.</p><p> "It's this rune, but the pentegram over the top needs to be sewn into the skin with the copper wire. If it works it should sort of melt into the skin, like a really raised tattoo, but like I said it's going to hurt, and I think probably itch a lot until it does." Stiles forced an awkward half smile, Derek frowned, looking over at the bag that had the wire, leaned up against the pillar.</p><p> "That sounds... Unpleasant." Derek said, Stiles shrugged, watching a bit of dust float across the yellowed light from the window. His leg had started bouncing again.</p><p> "Most definitely, but it's important. I can do it if you don't want to, or I probably can. I'm not a big fan of self mutilation, plus I'm kind of shaky, but I can figure it out, or I could have Scott do it. I think he knows how to sew." Stiles looked at his right arm with a small frown, Derek covered the place he kept looking at.</p><p> "I will do it." Derek had his serious face on, Stiles pulled him closer, kissing him gently at first, but as his hands slipped under Derek's jacket, over the plains of his muscular back it turned down right filthy. Derek growled, pulling him into his lap. Stiles writhed against him, nipping at his bottom lip. Derek moaned, oh, he likes that a lot. Stiles pressed down against the evidence to make him moan again.</p><p> "Guys! Not only can we all hear you, but most of us can see you!" Scott threw his shoe at them, Derek caught it before it could hit them. He pulled back, leaning his head against Stiles.</p><p> "Runes first. The train car has doors." Derek whipped the shoe back at Scott, and shifted Stiles back to his original seat to go get the copper wire.</p><p> "Hey, grab a couple rocks or something too, so I can grind the copper for the second rune. I think I can make it work with my phone battery. I turned it off before it died. I don't know. If these work I want to find the nemeton next. It's kind of key for my whole getting home plan, but more importantly I can totally rig up a protective spell for the town with it. Assuming it's active, and actually wants me to find it. That tree is kinda tricky, by which I mean it's a dick all the time. Oh, hey, and get another meat stick thing. I'm starving!" Stiles picked his lips, unsheathing the athame. The metal still had a brilliant sheen to it, here in the apocalypse world it looked so out of place.</p><p> "The chicken will be done in three or four minutes. I've decided to call it chicken, it just makes me feel better about it." Isaac turned the bird on a spit over a barrel they were using for the fire, brushing honey over the skin as he turned it with what looked like household a paint brush.</p><p> "You are a God amongst men Isaac! A cheff, maker of gourmet delights, I can tell be the smell, but still meat stick me please!" Stiles made grabby hands at Derek, who rolled his eyes at him.</p><p> "I can do you one better than rocks. You made me find this two days ago. In fact you ranted about it for three and a half hours until I went to look for one." Scott came over with a rough  stone plate, meant for a grinder about an inch and a half thick.</p><p> "Oo, yes! Stiles likes! Now I need a stick, and a banana boat, or I guess I could just do it on the floor. A little trench would really help though, or an actual working grinder, but beggars can't be choosers. Fetch boy." Stiles pointed at the door, Scott gave him a very unamused look, but went in search of a stick. Derek came back, using the grind stone to sharpen the edge of the wire to a needle like point much quicker than Stiles could hope to do it.</p><p> "look at you with your superpowered home ec skills! Okay, slicy part first. Cut me open doc! " Stiles slapped the inside of his wrist, Derek scowled.</p><p> "I'm starting to worry you might enjoy pain." Derek picked up the athame, checking it's edge against his claw again.</p><p> "Ah, that's a big fat no, I have a sexy werewolf pain sponge. Pain is very bad, which is why I am so very grateful I have you." Stiles booped him on the nose, Derek clicked his teeth at the finger, grabbing his wrist to start the rune. Stiles took the excess wire, and started working it along the stone without moving his shoulder.</p><p> "Really?" Derek raised a brow at the hand working to sand the copper down.</p><p> "I have to do something. Sitting still is not on my top ten most doable things list right now, besides I want to do these two together, because I think I can use one to enhance the other. That, obviously is a huge intuitive leap on my part, but hey, magic. Go with your gut right? Worst case scenario it doesn't work. Well... Actually worst case scenario I accidentally barbecue a bunch of people, but that is way less likely than it just not working. A lot of magic is about intention. I think..." Derek didn't look pleased, but he didn't make further complaints, so he'd take it. </p><p>He focused in on the small pile of copper he was creating to avoid watching Derek hook wire through his skin. Even without the pain it felt like a little press, and then a tug on his flesh that made his stomach deeply unsettled. He even set his meat aside.</p><p> "It's done." Derek kept looking at it, which made Stiles need to look at it.</p><p> "Oh, wow! That looks so gross, uh, I may need to take a break and throw up." Stiles put his hand to his mouth, unable to look away from the bloody metal weaved into his body. That's definitely worse than a normal rune scar.</p><p> "Okay! Okay, yeah, no. Here, start the other one, I'll pull apart my phone, it should be a fun tingly kind of electrocution." Stiles waggled his hand in front of Derek, for him to carve the rune into the other side of his wrist. Derek sighed rolling his shoulders, this may not hurt Stiles, but Derek did not enjoy it.</p><p> "What is the powder for?" Derek made quick work of the carving, and Stiles rubbed said copper into the wound. Derek hissed, pulling his hand back, the pain jolting back into Stiles arm.</p><p> "Ow!" Stiles whimpered, touching the prongs of wire he'd wrapped around the phone battery to the copper. He yelped, dropping it when it shocked him much harder than it should have.</p><p> "Ow, ow, ow! Okay, done, we're done." Stiles got up, hopping around, and shaking his arm like a lunatic.</p><p> "Come here." Derek yanked him into his lap, wrapping his arms around his shoulders to take his pain. Stiles burrowed into his lap with a happy little sigh.<br/> "Are you going to tell me what they do?" Derek touched the soft skin inside his right elbow, tickling his arm, but not aggravating the new injuries.</p><p> "Oh, yeah. Did I not do that already? This one is a pretty weak alarm spell by it's self, but with my still super gross additions it should be more of a trip wire kind of deal. See originally it was a one to one thing. Carve the rune in your skin, carve it in a doorway. Someone passes over the rune yours feels hot, it actually ties into dozens of different trap runes. Instead I bound the rune to the pentagram. </p><p>"Now I can use five runes to create a perimeter of pretty serious magnitude. If anyone crises the line between two wards I get a tingly feeling on the wire, which will hopefully not be there tomorrow, because... Gross. This one's just a zapper, pretty self explanatory. I can use it with this to make zappy trip wires though." Stiles wiggled with excitement while he explained. Derek growled, shifting over to pull the door closed so they could have a little alone time.</p><p> "Derek!" He froze, they could obviously hear something Stiles couldn't.</p><p> "That's Erica. Stay here!" Derek dumped him off his lap, and very suddenly every wolf in the building including Jackson had run off. Stiles groaned, forcing himself to his feet. He was not a stay in the car kind of guy, and he was definitely not staying in the train car.</p><p>Running sucked, but at least outside he could hear where the howl had come from. By the time he got there the pack was fighting with a group of hunters, including Allison, and Lydia. His favorite strawberry blonde had a lacrosse stick that she was using to lob Molotov cocktails at them, which, awesome, but not safe.</p><p> "Stop!" Stiles jumped into the middle, and used his shield ward to throw everyone back thirty feet of so.</p><p> "Stiles stay out of this! You're human. " Allison scrambled to retrieve her bow, aiming it towards him. Derek put himself between them with a roar, his features quickly nearing the full alpha form.</p><p> "Derek! Stop!" He put a hand on Derek's back, and the fur melted back down at least. His whole body still held enough tension to snap forward if he had to. A guy came up behind them with a combat knife. Stiles ran his fingers over the back of his right hand, using the classic symbol of Rock to tase that dick. It made Stiles' whole arm tingle, and little veins of copper burn up his arm. People really needed to stop making him use runes before they could heal.</p><p> "That was awesome! Taser finger, I am such a bad ass! Not the point, look we don't want to fight you. Why are you doing this? Lydia, Jackson is here, you almost lit him on fire! " Stiles pointed to where Jackson had indeed lost a sleeve to one of her molotovs. She covered her mouth in horror.</p><p> "It's okay, it's not like it's the first time you lit me on fire babe." He moved towards her, but Allison stopped him with an arrow at his feet.</p><p> "He's one of them Lydia. They're monsters. Werewolves. I saw him. We're out here hunting the pack that apparently you let loose Stiles! They killed Sam, his body was broken, and mangled." She got the her feet, looking to the four other hunters with her. Two had been knocked unconscious in the blast. The other two were trying to inch towards cover.</p><p> "First if you're talking about the guy in the brick building, you guys attacked us. He nearly blew my head off before I shot him. He fell down that rubble, that's how his bones broke. I shot Jackson too, then I saved his life, because we never wanted anyone to die. Second, of course I released them, you guys enslaved them with collars that were essentially sweating hydrochloric acid in their necks, and then you sent them to kill me and Scott." Stiles threw his arms up in exasperation. Allison flicked her gaze to where Scott had Boyd pulled off to the side, snapping an arrow to get it out of his side.</p><p> "Gerard would never do that. Scott is bitten, he let them out because the Alpha made him." Allison released the tension on her bow, clearly not sure what to believe any more. Scott made a face.</p><p> "I did not! I never even came back after I got bit, because I was afraid I'd put you in danger. Stiles is the one who convinced me not to blow my brains out, and I'm glad he did. Ally, I don't feel any different about anything since I got bitten, except now I'm afraid my friends are going to try and kill me. If Stiles hadn't saved them, they would have killed us. Gerard is the monster." Scott helped pull Boyd back to his feet, really playing up the pathetic. Lydia moved closer to Jackson.</p><p> "Is that true?" She whispered, he reached out, slipping his hand into her's.</p><p> "Of course it is, do in think I'd hang around McCall, and Stilinski if I didn't want a chance to see you?" Jackson kept his voice low, but they all heard him.</p><p> "Or he's here because that monster won't let him leave." Allison pointed to Derek, who was the only one still in beta form.</p><p> "Derek." Stiles moved his hand up to his shoulder, and down to twine his finger with his claws. Derek flicked his gaze back, a low growl of protest escaping his throat.</p><p> "Please." Stiles squeezed his hand, and Derek let himself relax, shifting back to his normal face. Stiles smiled, patting his lower arm.</p><p> "An alpha can't force anyone to stay. How do you think omegas exist." Derek moved to wrap his arm around Stiles' shoulder. Everyone there had begun to look uncomfortable.</p><p> "It's okay if you don't believe us. All we want is for you guys to leave Beacon Hills alone. It's not like you ever needed anything from here before. We just want to be safe, and alive." Stiles said, shifting them back. As Derek moved away, the pack closed in around them. Lydia looked between them, and Allison with the little pinch in her expression that said she was making a difficult decision.</p><p> "Lydia, what the hell are you doing?" Allison gasped when her friend moved to Jackson's side. He happily wrapped her in his arms.</p><p> "I'm going with Jackson. Even if they're wrong, it's Jackson." She held her head high, unwavering now that she'd made her choice.</p><p> "You could come too." Scott held a hand out to her, she got a wild look in her eye, and Stiles put up the shield, just to be safe. Her arrow snapped as it hit the magic barrier right where Scott's heart would have been.</p><p> "I didn't do anything wrong Ally, I don't know why you believe him." Scott turned, and ran, the whole pack did, Lydia carried by Jackson. Stiles and Derek waited until they knew they were all safe.</p><p> "It doesn't have to be like this." Stiles gave it one last try, she glared at him as Derek turned to let him climb into his back.</p><p> "Yes it does."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I am sorry if the withdrawal got a little overplayed, I spoke to a few people who have gone through it, and it can get bad like that, but it's not always. I figured he was pretty dependent on it.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Best Laid Plans</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Plans don't always work out for Derek. Who is he kidding? They never work out for Derek.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's not working! I don't know what I'm doing wrong! Do the thing again." Stiles bent backwards over the couch to look at Stiles while he made an early lunch.</p><p> "No. The point is for you to learn how to do it on your own." He pointed the knife at him, going back to slicing cilantro for the chicken, and rice with black beans. He could use the left overs for burritos. Feeding Stiles was a full time job.</p><p> "Uh! I know, but I don't know why it works. I mean having you that close just fries my circuits, I don't know how to make that happen without you." Stiles wriggled further back, half of him bent awkwardly over the couch. It had to be bad for his back.</p><p> "Eat. Peter has a plan." Derek came over, and dropped a plate in front of him. Stiles snuffed out the candle with his fingers, happily digging in. </p><p> "I thought... Mm, I thought you didn't like Peter." Stiles said through a mouth full of food. Derek scowled at him, and he wiped the rice off his couch.</p><p> "I don't, but he likes you, honestly he liked the other Stiles better than most of us, the difference is Stiles hated him." Derek said, eating much slower than Stiles, flipping through a book while he did so. Talking had almost become a necessity, Stiles would ramble for hours until he broke.</p><p> "Well, if I've got my story right he did try and kill us. The point however, is why are we trusting him? I mean, obviously I could use the help, but Deaton has the whole Nemeton thing he wants to try, so maybe that will work." Stiles nearly choked on an attempt not to speak with his mouth full.</p><p> "Or it could make it worse." Derek looked up from his book to raise a brow at him. Stiles hummed around a bite big enough to puff his cheeks out. Derek still couldn't believe he didn't choke on everything he ate.</p><p> "Okay, yeah, there's that. Obviously it has risks, I guess that's probably why we haven't done it yet, but I think I'm making real progress here. I just need you to do the thing." Stiles nearly spilled his soda in an effort not to get up to reach it.</p><p> "I've done it fourteen times. It's not helping." Derek got up to wash their plates. Stiles groaned, getting up to bounce around the loft until Derek was ready to go.</p><p> "A duffle bag, and a blow torch, way to stick with the creep factor Petey." Stiles grinned at Peter who stood in the middle of a baseball diamond, tossing a ball with a large glove.</p><p> "A little gratitude Stiles, I've figured out what's causing you... Impotence." Peter smiled, all teeth, and a predatory gaze. Stiles rolled his eyes sharing a look of disbelief with Derek.</p><p> "Just get on with it." Derek leaned against the chain link fence behind the home plate, funny that the one time they were actually at a baseball field Stiles didn't have a bat.</p><p> "Fair enough." Peter lit the blow torch, using it to light the baseball he held in his hand.</p><p> "Put the fire out." He said before pelting it at Stiles, who quickly ducked out of the way of the flaming ball.</p><p> "What the hell! You're going to light me on fire, that's your solution?" Stiles yellped, dodging a second ball, Derek pushed of the fence to avoid line of fire.</p><p> "Yes. Stop me if you're so worried." Peter started throwing them faster. Too fast for Stiles to dodge them. Derek shot forward, snatching one out of the air before it could hit Stiles in the head.</p><p> "Enough. It's not working." Derek hissed, dropping the ball, and shaking the burn off his hand. He hates burns, they never healed right, not since the fire.</p><p> "You're right, I should change tactics." Peter smirked, tossing three balls one right after another at Derek now.</p><p> "Hey! Stop, he's not part of this!" Stiles tried to pull Derek out of the way, but one still got him in the chest, making him pat at his smoldering shirt.</p><p> "Stop trying to dodge, and you your magic. This only ends when you succeed you idiot." Peter lobbed another ball, fast enough that if it got Stiles it would probably break something. It slammed into Derek's shoulder, and Peter just laighed , picking up another ball. Stiles snapped, snuffing out the ball in Peter's hand, and then the blow torch he was using to light them. His face lit up like Christmas morning, a smile splitting his parted lips.</p><p> "I did it! I get it! I felt it, and oh my God! No wonder he loves magic, it's like - wow! Look at me! I'm a bad ass air bender! Derek! I did it!" Stiles ran over, nearly toppling him with the force of his hug. Derek laughed, wrapping his arms around his middle while his feet dangled in the air.</p><p> "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Stiles punctuated each expression of gratitude with a quick peck on the lips. Nothing filthy, but the last one Derek caught, letting himself enjoy the moment. It stretched out to no more than three seconds, but the feel of him vibrating with excitement, smelling of pride while he could taste his lips made Derek's head a little fuzzy.</p><p> "Hey! What am I chopped liver, I'm the one who came up with this plan." Peter griped, Derek planned to pay him no mind, he might even swing Stiles around in celebration, he could get excited; Stiles was one step closer to saving there Stiles. This Stiles had other plans though. He dropped from Derek's hold and ran towards Peter.</p><p>The strange gesture made worth it when Peter watched his approach in wide eyed horror. Stiles leapt, engulfing him in a hug that would have proven dangerous to refuse. Peter clapped him awkwardly on the back.</p><p> "For a creepy uncle, you are surprisingly okay, and totally the smartest guy in the pack besides my sparkling genius. I absolutely forgive you for trying to kill other me. You rock!" Derek's laughter died in his throat when he realized how Peter's heart rate had spiked. The afternoon sun painting them with golden light like something out of heartbreaking coming of age drama.</p><p> "Any time." Peter's voice sounded a little tight, but he cleared his throat, and turned his focus to the other end of the field, where Scott made his way towards them.</p><p> "Scott! Did you see? I am a bastion of bad ass! Stiles the spectacular, the stupendous, the... Super duper! " Stiles rushed towards his best friend, hopping up and down when Scott didn't immediately throw his arms around him.</p><p> "What the hell are you doing?" Scott growled when he got closer, his alpha voice already in place. Derek and Peter both shifted closer, not wanting Stiles to get yelled at, but also uncomfortable around their angry alpha. Neither of them showed any of that in their expression.</p><p> "Um, learning how to control my magic so I can do the spell to get Stiles back." Stiles shuffled back, looking at Derek to try and figure out what he had done wrong.</p><p> "Really? Are you sure you aren't luxuriating in the good life, trying to get in Derek's pants while having no regard for the life Stiles worked his ass off to create for himself?" Scott pulled a bit of paper out of his. pocket, unfolding it during his speech, and slapped it against his chest at the end.</p><p> "I would never do that! I... Oh, no! I didn't, I'm so sorry, I forgot about the application. The apocalypse doesn't have deadlines you know." Stiles trailed off when he read the paper. Stiles had been put in the FBI waiting list for next years internship because of his failure to turn in the proper paper work.</p><p> "We get it, this world is better than yours, but it's not yours to keep, so don't mess it up for the Stiles that matters, and call his Dad, because he's tried to call you six times, then Derek, who was obviously a bit distracted. Eventually he had to call me." Scott huffed off, Derek snagged Scott's arm as he tried to pass, pissed at Scott because he was more than pissed enough at Stiles for all of them.</p><p> "Scott." Derek scowled at him, Scott yanked his arm away.</p><p> "No, you're just as much to blame. I told you guys three times that you had to do this for Stiles. He trusted you, more than any of us." Scott continued his storming off, Peter went over to Stiles, putting a hand on his shoulder. Stiles forced a smile.</p><p> "Can we go home now?" Stiles whispered, Derek nodded, putting a hand on the small of his back, and leading him up the hill to the parking lot. Fortunately he had driven.</p><p> "You okay?" Derek waited until they were in the loft before he said anything, Stiles heart rate had been ramping up since Scott left.</p><p> "Yeah." Stiles lied, Derek put a hand on his shoulder, making him look at Derek's expression of disbelief.</p><p> "Okay, no, but it doesn't matter. Scott was right, I messed up. I am worthless at magic, he had three years to get to the level of skill he had, and Deaton said even the real Stiles would have trouble with this. I messed up his FBI thing, whatever that even is. I have been spending time with his dad, and living with his friend. What if Stiles is dead? What if I can never bring him back, and Scott hates me for killing his friend? I... What if I..." Stiles clutched his chest, Derek watched him start to spiral. His heart raced in a heavy staccato, while he struggled to breathe.</p><p> "Stiles!" Derek stopped his pacing forcefully, but holding him didn't make a dent in his panic attack. He knew this wasn't his Stiles, and he would never take advantage of how much this Stiles cared for him for his own sake, but he couldn't let him spiral like this. He couldn't stand by while any Stiles felt like this. He did the only thing he could think of to calm him down. He kissed him.</p><p> "Stiles, you are doing everything you can. Even if... Even if we never get that Stiles back, you're still here, Scott is still your friend, and you will always have a place here." It physically hurt Derek to suggest Stiles may never come back, but the blow was lessened by Stiles rocketing forward to kiss him again. Unlike the last kiss, this one was not brief. He clawed at Derek's shirt, desperate to pull him closer. His lips salted by his tears.</p><p> "Stiles." Derek pulled back gently, Stiles hid his face against Derek's chest, his red, blotchy cheek pressing a damp patch into the grey fabric.</p><p> "Please Derek! You don't have to want anything else, you don't even have to touch me, just let me have this. I know I'm not him, and I'm not enough, but you're the only good thing here that isn't his. Please." Stiles whimpered, Derek shifted back, looking down at him with hazel eyes, his expression very serious.</p><p> "You may not be from here, but you're still Stiles. You will never not be enough." Derek growled, his eyes turning blue at the edges, Stiles pulled him into another kiss, but this time Derek let it happen. He was still Stiles. He could taste pop tarts, and the lunch they shared on his tongue as he pressed closer. Stiles tugged his shirt off, without breaking the kiss until it was so tangled up in his arms Derek had to move back to see him.</p><p> "Sorry." He grimaced, scrambling to get at Derek's belt, a blush spread all the way down his chest.</p><p> "Shut up." Derek lifted him by the hips, tossing him into his bed. He stripped off his shirt, sliding his belt off with a snap of the leather. Stiles moaned, watching his muscles tense as he shucked off his pants. The soft black cotton of Derek's boxer briefs left little doubt that he was as eager for this as Stiles.</p><p> "Okay, not that this show isn't mouthwatering, but I need you closer like yesterday." Stiles made grabby hands at him while also attempting to take off his pants. Derek allowed himself a moment to memorize the constellations of moles speckled across his pale skin before stalking across the bed over him. He started at his thigh, kissing, and nipping his way up, leaving a trail of red, marked skin in his wake.</p><p>He hooked both thumbs in Stiles' waistband, yanking his boxers down when he obediently lifted his hips. Derek ran the flat of his tongue over his magnificent length, sucking just the head into his mouth before releasing him.</p><p> "Derek! Fuck!" Stiles hissed, bucking his hips after the warmth of his mouth. Derek chuckled, delighted to see him so undone by such a slight touch.</p><p> "I want you to fuck me Stiles." Derek growled, scraping his inhumanly sharp teeth along the v in his hip, raising goosebumps in their wake. He snatched the lube from the bedside, working his fingers into himself while Stiles moaned.</p><p> "Jesus Christ! If I didn't know better I'd say I died and went to heaven." Stiles tried to sit up enough to touch him, but Derek held himself out of reach.</p><p> "I'll take that as a yes." Derek put a hand on his chest pressing him back into the bed before moving his lubed hand to Stiles. The oil dripped hot from Derek's hand on to his shaft, and Derek stroked devastatingly slow.</p><p> "Derek! Fuck, if you, on God!" Stiles whimpered, half way through his warning Derek shifted forward, and slid down his cock. His hard length stretching him painfully. He hadn't prepped nearly as much as he should have, but he needed this. He needed to be filled by him, and show him how perfect he was.</p><p> "Holy fuck Batman! You feel, Jesus, you feel so good!" Stiles strained to push himself further up, to give him all of him.</p><p> "I want you to cum inside me, I want the whole pack to smell you on my skin. I want to mark every inch of you so they all know where you belong!" Derek growled, riding him hard, and fast. Stiles shifted up, trying to adjust his angle, until Derek cried out. His cock twitched every time he slammed down on his prostate, dripping precum across Stiles chest. Stiles reached down, stroking him only twice before Derek came, hot against his skin. He clenched down, working Stiles over the edge.</p><p>They fell together in a tangle of sweaty limbs, with no regard for the mess. Stiles curled into him, his heart finally finding the steady rythem of peace. Derek wrapped himself around Stiles, trying to shield him from the world for at least this brief moment. He fell asleep with surprising ease.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> "I just don't understand why we're still wandering around the woods, I don't think this Namey ton tree is here in our world." Erica griped, holding the bag open for Stiles to add more plants. He'd been getting better at identifying them from his book.</p><p> "I told you, it can only be found when it wants to be found. It's magical! It's also the only way I can get home." Stiles popped a mint leaf into his mouth, he could use the plant to grow more, and they could finally have some semblance of toothpaste. Charcoal, and salt water was not the ideal mix.</p><p> "What's so great about your home anyway? I mean I'm not there, and neither is Boyd. Jackson and Isaac left, and while I could see not having Jackson as being a good thing, Isaac is a puppy. I mean sure you have a Derek, but from the sounds of it when you two think we're asleep, or really any time you have a closed door, you like our Derek better." Erica tossed a rock at a squirrel, knocking it out of the tree. Stiles picked it up with a little frown, but handed the body to her.</p><p> "My Dad is there, and people will be worried about me. Look, maybe I'll never get home, and honestly that wouldn't be so bad, but I can't give up on my Dad for anything. Okay?" Stiles tripped over a tree root, letting out a very manly squeal of panic. Erica laughed, shaking her head at him. He sighed, rolling over, content to rest there for a minute. The tree that stretched over him twisted with rich, dark wood.</p><p> "Hey! Hey, this is it! Woop! Go us!" Stiles scrambled to his feet, digging through his bag until he came up with a crusty rust coloured length of string. </p><p> "What are you doing? I know you're excited, but I don't think it needs a bow." Erica made a face at him, they'd been searching for this tree for weeks.</p><p> "What? No, it's a Celtic knot for lost travelers, I soaked the string in my blood, so now I can always find it. It's the same one you guys have on your necklaces. I don't think it's active, that's why it's been so hard to find." Stiles put his ear up to the trunk, which didn't really do anything, but made him feel appropriately magical. He was so excited! He could go home!</p><p> "Ew, I have your blood hanging around my neck!" She looked down at the knot that hung from what had once been a shoe lace.</p><p> "Yes, you big baby. How can you not smell that?" Stiles waved his hand at her, running around the tree, picking a leaf off it. He needed to test of it had any juice, if not he'd have to figure out how to jump start it.</p><p> "I don't know, you're always bleeding on things. Does this mean we can go home now, because the longer I keep you put here the more agitated Derek gets?" Erica sighed, Stiles snorted, tugging the knot tight again just to be sure.</p><p> "Yeah, yes, let's... Erica, I need you to run, and tell Derek we've got, I don't know, maybe ten incoming, it's a lot. Go! Now!" Stiles yelled, she ran, and Stiles twisted the shock ward into the alarm spell before he took off after her. He couldn't run the entire way the way she could though. He hardly got to the edge of the woods before a stitch in his side nearly took him down. He stumbled to a stop, panting, and holding his side.</p><p> "I knew you'd send her back to warn them." Allison's voice was the last thing he heard before something sweet hit his mouth, some kind of cloth, he dropped like a rock. He woke up with a pounding head, and his shoulders aching. He kept his eyes closed, all his weight was on his arms, but it couldn't be helped without alerting anyone in the room. </p><p>Metal dug into his back, chain link maybe. That would make sense, that's how they kept Derek when Kate took him. Gerard had tied him to a chair, but he had to assume he was seen as a bigger threat these days. Would they electrocute him like they did Derek? He hoped not. The floor felt like cement, and the things holding him up felt like cuffs. Boy he really hoped they were hand cuffs.</p><p> "Alright son, I know you're awake, try and drink this. It should help with the headache." Stiles looked up when Chris Argent pressed a cup to his lips, sipping at the bitter tea. Birch probably.</p><p> "Please don't let them do this to me. I know you're not down to torture a kid Chris. You're better than him. It doesn't have to be like this!" Stiles trusted Chris, he likes Chris, if anyone would help him Chris would.</p><p> "They don't need you to talk Stiles, they need you as bait for the pack. Without them collared they're dangerous to everyone." Chris set the cup down, laying a cool cloth against the back of his neck. Stiles shifted to ease the weight on his wrists, but his feet were tied too.</p><p> "No they're not. They just want to live, same as you. What happened to we hunt those who hunt us Chris? They never came after you. They could have. They could have turned around, and slaughtered the men leashing them, and come here to finish the job, but they didn't. Derek took his pack to safety, and we let your men leave peacefully when we could, even though you came to kill us. You know that people are going to die if you don't let me go. You can't want that." Stiles pleaded with him, tugging at his restraints, Chris sighed, leaning against the rolling table that held the tools they would use to hurt him, or electrocute him if they decided to.</p><p> "It's not my call son. Just try to not to struggle. Gerard might even let you come home." Chris turned and left him. Stiles groaned, being held prisoner was by far his least favorite activity. The room didn't have much in it, just more fun torture devices. Wait. Stiles jammed his head against his shoulder to activate his wolf vision. There was someone else in here.</p><p> "Peter?" Stiles whispered, the man had manacles around his wrists, ankles, and even his neck. He could hardly move from the position he was chained to the wall, but he could at least sit with his arms up. His hair was longer, and he had a ratty beard, but Stiles spent too long being afraid of Peter not to recognize him.</p><p> "I don't know you." Peter's voice rasped, thin, and weak. It sounded so out of place for Peter, the man loved to talk.</p><p> "No, not technically, but I know your nephew. Derek." Stiles said, Peter looked up at him, his eyes nearly vacant of the sharp edge of cunning they had always seemed to reflect.</p><p> "Is that so? He's the alpha now, they killed Laura than." Peter sighed, laying his head against the wall to look at Stiles. He sniffed the air, raising a brow.</p><p> "Oh, you do know Derek." He drew out the word know into something dirty. Stiles rolled his eyes, that sounded more like Peter.</p><p> "Yeah. I'm the one that got those collars off him, and the pack. Why weren't you with them?" Stiles shifted his weight, there really was no comfortable position. Peter hummed, licking his thumb to scrub at a spot of dirt on his hand.</p><p> "I escaped, twice. For some reason they didn't trust me to run with the other. I shouldn't have come back for them, and I hope they know better than to come for you little human." Peter scanned him, assessing the way he often did.</p><p> "I don't think Derek is as clever as you, but he's not alone." Stiles said, Peter nodded, closing his eyes.</p><p> "Let's hope it's enough." He left him in silence to think, and to listen to people as they moved through the near by corridors. He couldn't tell if this was a factory, or something more like a prison. Hopefully a factory, prisons would have a more easily securable set up. He'd lost track of time, but they'd been fed twice, by people he didn't recognize. He didn't even know if they could hear. They definitely didn't listen.</p><p> "Danny!" Stiles heard him, he knew his voice. Danny was still alive, and he was here. Despite the effort he'd put into it he couldn't get a hand free. He just needed someone who would listen. Danny poked his head in with a raised brow, his mouth falling open when he saw Stiles.</p><p> "Stiles? What the hell is going on?" Danny hissed, pulling the door shut behind him, let's dangling from his hand. The apocalypse had been good for him, he looked fit.</p><p> "It's kind of complicated, and I don't have a lot of time. You don't think you could unlock one of these could you?" Stiles tried to pull on his most charming smile, Danny frowned, obviously not sure he should.</p><p> "No, leave him, I like the company." Peter grinned from the darkness, his teeth catching the harsh blue light.</p><p> "Tell me why you're in here. You've been gone for over a month." Danny shifted back towards the door. Stiles sighed, so much for the easy way.</p><p> "Scott got bitten, I just didn't want to watch them splatter his brains on the grass Danny. He's not a monster. Scott couldn't hurt a fly. You don't have to do anything that will get you in trouble. I would never want that. Just, will you tell Scott that I'm okay, and not to come for me. If you go to Beacon Hills he'll find you. Please. Just tell them you want to talk to Scott. I need him to be safe Danny." Stiles leaned out as far as the cuffs would let him, blood trickling down the scars just below them.</p><p> "Man, I can't just go out there! They've got us on alert." Danny said, Stiles groaned, he didn't have time for Danny to debate this, if he didn't leave soon Derek might come charging after him. He didn't know how much time he'd lost to unconsciousness.</p><p> "I know, because he has Allison hunting Scott down. I promise you will be safe Danny. Blood oath." Stiles jostled his arm to call his attention to the blood dripping from his elbow. Danny bit his lip, looking at the chains that held him.</p><p> "Okay. I'll try. I can't promise anything." Danny ducked out of the room, Peter waited a beat, listening until he'd left the range of human hearing.</p><p> "Clever, sending them a hostage, but Gerard will never make that trade. He'd rather watch them all die than concede his point to my kind." Peter hadn't spoken the entire time they were alone, which scared Stiles more than Peter in his world ever had.</p><p> "No, but Jackson, and Lydia are Danny's best friends, and if he knows as little about what happened to them as he does about me and Scott he'll help them. If they have someone on the inside they might be able to get in and out quietly." Stiles smirked, Peter looked a little impressed.</p><p> "You're not as stupid as you look." Peter said, "are you his emissary?" Peter looked down at the book on his hip. He hadn't taken his dad's gun with him today thankfully.</p><p> "No, or, I guess I don't really know. I don't know how to be an emissary. I got my first rune less than a month ago. There's so much I don't understand right now it's comical. I am right back to when Scott got bit, and we didn't know anything. Amusingly you were there for that too." Stiles mumbled under his breath for the last part. Peter raised a brow at him, falling silent for a long moment.</p><p> "I know a bit, perhaps I could untangle some things for you, if you told me how you got your hands on that book." Peter slipped into a wolfish grin, Stiles worked his tongue over the inside of his cheek, unsure if this Peter could be trusted.</p><p> "It's a long story." Stiles whispered, Peter looked around, holding his arms out.</p><p> "I feel we probably have time to spare." He chuckled at his own joke, Stiles scoffed, but he told him. He told him everything, because he could, because what else could he do chained to a freaking wall? It felt good to talk to someone who had a knowledge base in magic. Peter had some surprising insights that Stiles never would have thought of over the next two days. At least he thought it was two days. No one spoke to him except Peter, not even Chris.</p><p> "This is stupid. I'm so stupid." Danny whispered, slipping into the room. Stiles grinned, trying not to breathe too loud. He didn't want to spook him.</p><p> "Are you helping?" Stiles kept his voice down, Danny looked up at him like he was stupid. </p><p> "No! I'm not doing anything except giving you this." Danny pulled out Stiles' wallet, which he'd left in the train depot. He slid the cuff key into his hand, and the wallet into his back pocket.</p><p> "They said Peter could lead you out." Danny left before Stiles could thank him. He smirked over at Peter, oh yeah, he could work with this.</p><p> "Why hasn't he come for you yet?" Allison hissed as soon as she slipped through the door looking worn thin.</p><p> "How would I know? I've been hanging with you guys for days now. It's been days right? Time is kind of fuzzy with the whole no windows thing. Peter's been a great though, did you know he can sing, like I thought it was a joke, but he's actually pretty good?" Stiles looked over at the very cheeky Peter, who chuckled, flashing his teeth at her.</p><p> "Oh good, now you're friends with the mass murdering psychopath. God, what even happened to you? You were one of my Grandfather's best hunters, you're smarter than this." She looked over her shoulder at the door, like she didn't have a lot of time, or she was afraid someone would catch her.</p><p> "I mean I'm smarter than him, and I thought you were too. Do you really believe werewolves are just monsters? Take Peter here, he's leaning towards the scary side of the spectrum, but he doesn't do anything that your oh so charming gramps wouldn't do. You say he killed a bunch of people, and I totally believe that, but my guess is he couldn't have cared less about you guys before you took his family. You have heard what your favorite aunt did to them right, or has she not told you that bed time story yet?" Stiles rolled the dice on that bit of personal history still being true, but since the Hale house had still burned, and from what he'd seen it wasn't in the radius of the fire bombings.</p><p> "Kate never worked with the dogs." Peter growled, low from the dark corner, echoing through the cement room.</p><p> "Wow, rude. You know they're people right? How would you like it if people just called you girl all the time? That's not the point. The point is she used Derek, got into their house, and she burned it down around his family. Surrounded it with mountain ash, and killed eleven people in their sleep. I know, but they were wolves, except they weren't all wolves. </p><p>"People born to a wolf, and a human only have a 50/50 shot at being a wolf. Some of those little kids who burned were just like you. Then you caught them, wrapped their necks in acid, and made them kill people for you. What would you do to someone who did that to you and your family? Would you walk away while they had your Dad in a cage?" Stiles let himself dangle off the cuffs to get as close to her as he could. She took a step back, looking over at Peter.</p><p> "No! Kate couldn't do that." Allison didn't sound as sure as she wanted to, Peter snickered, leaning his head back against the wall.</p><p> "Are you telling me, or asking me? I know it happened, so it doesn't really matter I guess. The point is you're out there killing people who are just trying to survive. Scott has never hurt anyone, but I'm sure grandpa Argent would kill him in a heart beat, just because somebody bit him, and he didn't die." Stiles wished he could wave his hands around to emphasize, but he had to settle for emphatic eye rolling.</p><p> "Allison... I thought I asked you to leave this to me." Gerard pushed in the partially open door, she looked down at the floor.</p><p> "I know, it's just-- I thought maybe he knew why they hadn't come yet. Stiles is Scott's best friend, and the alpha acted like he owned him." Allison pressed her angle, even Stiles knew an excuse would be worth less than nothing to Gerard.</p><p> "We both know Scott isn't human anymore. We took a chance hoping he might still react to the loss of his friend, but obviously he's too far gone. As for the alpha he may well own him, those scars on his head might be linked to something more sinister. That's why I'm handling this personally, now go back to your post." Gerard rubbed her shoulders before sending her away, Stiles groaned, he did not want to deal with this guy again.</p><p> "So let me guess, nobody came for your dashing damsel in distress, so now you're going to torture me for information right? Maybe electrify the fence I'm hanging on, do the shirt, you know for dramatic effect, then slice into me, or are you more of a blunt force trauma guy? Whatever your plan is it won't work. I'm not telling you how to kill my friends, my pack. The instinct to protect the alpha is too strong, isn't that what you say?" Stiles wished he could stop the tremor in his voice, but the low growl from Peter helped sell it.</p><p> "Colourful, you always had such an imagination, I liked that about you. Clever too. My bet is you warned them somehow. The magic is new, I'm sure I'll hear all about it, but I don't plan to torture you Stiles. You're one of us, even if you cut off the brand. We're your family. You can still come back to the fold.</p><p>"I have a knack for painting a vivid picture, so they say. Let me paint you one. Once I get out of these cuffs I'm going to... That's where the threats go, I'm not great at threats. I bet Peter could think of some." Gerard turned, and Peter lunged, ripping his throat out before he had a chance to scream.</p><p> "I've been waiting to do that for years." Peter wiped the blood from his mouth, not doing a very good job of cleaning it. He came over, and released him from the cuffs again.</p><p> "I bet, now how do we get out of here? The less people we kill the better. " Stiles grabbed his arms, pulling Gerard to the dark corner Peter just left.</p><p> "I ardently disagree, but it is your plan. Stay close." Peter closed his eyes to listen for anyone in the hall.</p><p> "Cool, I can do close, I am a total pro at staying close." Stiles bounced back and forth on the balls of his feet, retrieving his athame from the table of torture devices.</p><p>"And quiet." Peter whapped him upside the head, Stiles cringed, reaching up to activate his wolf vision.</p><p> "Quiet, right, not as easy, but I'll try." Stiles chewed at the corner of his thumb to give himself something to do while he followed Peter through the halls. Factory it is. They'd made serious alterations, and improved the lighting, but Peter slipped through it like a ghost. Stiles not so much. Peter held up a hand to stop him.</p><p> "There's a fight. Five, maybe more. " Peter hardly spoke loud enough to hear even with enhanced hearing. He tilted his head, trying to pick up the sounds of the fight.</p><p> "That's them. That's Scott's voice." Stiles pushed past him, Peter growled after him, but fell in behind as he went. Stiles didn't hesitate to run to the middle.</p><p> "Derek, force." Stiles yelled, the entire pack, except Peter, who didn't know what that meant dropped to the floor. Stiles slammed his hand down over the rune on his chest, sending the men flying backwards. Peter hardly managed a crouch to stay on his feet before it happened, sliding back ten feet.</p><p> "Stiles!" Derek closed the distance between them in two long strides, wrapping him up in his arms, and kissing him breathless.</p><p> "Touching really, but we should go." Peter shoved them back as he went, and Derek simply carried Stiles.</p><p> "Nothing says damsel in distress quite like being carried out of the castle. I have feet you know, I could run." Stiles complained, Derek shook his head, leaping the fence without breaking stride, rolling as they landed, with Stiles clutched to his chest.</p><p> "Not fast enough." Derek growled, running into the night, Stiles sighed, but relegated himself to the roll of princess style baggage. Once they made it back to the train yard Derek finally set him down.</p><p> "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, I should have stayed!" Erica pulled him into a hug, hiding her face in his chest, clinging painfully to him.</p><p> "Hey! Wow. Erica, no. I told you to warn Derek, this is so not your fault. Allison knew how I would react, it was a trap. I'm just glad Danny got to you before you charged in head first." Stiles patted her shoulders, Erica leaned her head on his arm.</p><p> "I'm just really glad you're okay." She rubbed her face against his shirt before letting him go back to Derek.</p><p> "Me too, and hey, we got Peter out, and he killed Gerard, so let's call it a win all around." Stiles tucked up under Derek's outstretched arm.</p><p> "I know I enjoyed it." Peter knelt by their water barrel, using a ruined shirt for a rag to clean up. </p><p> "Great, except now everyone is going to be up in arms, because it's a camp full of hunters, and you killed their leader. Chris might get control of them, but it could also go to Kate. Either way they can't let Gerard's death go unanswered. Even if Chris wanted to let us go, he can't now." Lydia crossed her arms with a "why are boy's so stupid?" huff. Jackson and Scott nodded, agreeing with this unfortunate fact.</p><p> "I know, which is why it's more important than ever to activate the Nemeton. Peter, and I came up with a plan." Stiles looked around, pleased to see they'd retrieved his bag. "I marked the tree, we can go now." Peter nodded, tossing the bag to him.</p><p> "Let's get on it. I don't want to be caught in the woods by the hunting party they send after us." Peter started for the door, Derek put a hand on Stiles' chest to stop him from following.</p><p> "No, we shouldn't be out there, it's the middle of the night, you've been locked up for days, we need to deal with the hunting party first. You should stay here with Peter while we find them." Derek's eyes shimmered red, not quite turned, but on the verge. Stiles groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation.</p><p> "What? No! We only have one shot at this Derek! It's the full moon tonight, I'm fairly sure you know that, if the moon sets we have to wait until the next full moon to do this. We are not killing the hunting party. We are not killing anyone else! This spell is our only option, now move that cute butt!" Stiles tried to push past him, but Derek proved to be an immobile wall of muscle. Peter came back, shouldering Derek out of the way.</p><p> "We don't have time for this you idiot. If we fail the next step is all out war with those hunters. As much as I'd like to rip them all apart, and feast on their hearts, it won't happen. We'll kill the hunting party, maybe even the next one, and then they'll kill us, slowly. One by one we'll lose people to them, maybe even to the collars, and then they'll send them to kill us. Eventually they will win, because those cockroaches have the numbers. Your boy has a plan, the only smart plan, so let's move!" Peter shoved Stiles ahead of him, not waiting to see if they would listen this time. </p><p>Peter held a hand out to him, helping him on to his back, it felt so strange to trust Peter. Did he trust Peter? Wow, he really just couldn't wrap his head around that thought. They ran through the woods, the pack hot on their heels. Peter moved with smoother strides, not jostling him the way Derek did, but he wasn't as fast. The complex runes Peter had carved into his back at the prison still stretched and pulled as they ran.</p><p> "Okay, salt circle Isaac, around me, and the tree. Derek, I need you to go back... Maybe a hundred yards, and get me the mint, Erica you remember where it is go too. Boyd, make sure no one interrupts." Stiles rattled off, and they didn't have time to think, they just did as he said. Stiles laid down, activating his perimeter ward, and holding his hands out to Peter. He gave each finger a quick jab with his claws. He connected the ward on his arm to the one of his back with a stripe of blood.</p><p> "Tell Derek it wasn't his fault of you can't bring me back." Stiles whispered so low only Peter could hear. He nodded, one sharp jerk of his head, and Stiles dug his bleeding fingers into the roots of the Nemeton. Peter's hand shot out, strangling him, just enough pressure to cut off his air without breaking anything.</p><p>He could see the guilt in Peter's eyes, but it was tempered by cold determination. Stiles was seeing stars, he knew he was struggling, and Isaac was clawing at Peter's arm as he held him at bay. Derek's roar was the last thing he heard before the world went black, something digging at his shoulders, like roots, pulling him down.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry for the cliff hanger.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Satisfying Conclusions?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>They find their way home, but do they still fit in their old lives?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Derek saw red when his eyes landed on Peter, one hand bleeding under Isaac's assault, the other strangling the life out of Stiles. He felt the roar rip through him without thinking, and he lunged at Peter. He let go of Stiles, and Isaac to avoid his attack.</p><p> "Calm down, it's part of the magic, we have to resuscitate him." Peter threw his bloody arm up to take the brunt of Derek's sweeping claws.</p><p> "You killed him!" Derek couldn't hear his heart beat any more. He was dead! Derek was panicking.</p><p> "If you don't calm down he'll stay dead!" Peter's eyes shone blue, his fangs bared as he roared back at him, Derek stumbled back, looking down at him, all the rage seeping out of his stance. Peter ran to the boy, sickly black lines creeping down his shoulders from the bruise on his neck twisting up in the runes on his back. Peter tilted his head back, pushing air into his lungs, and starting compressions.</p><p> "Step away from the boy!" Chris's voice snapped the panic in him into something cold, and sharp. There were others, around them, they had hearded Boyd back into the clearing with them. Allison stood just to her father's left.</p><p> "Leave my territory!" Derek snarled, putting himself between Chris, and Stiles while Peter continued without pause. If Stiles died they would all die.</p><p> "You think it's that easy? You killed my father, my guards, we can't let monsters like you run free. Derek knew Stiles wanted them to talk, to try, but every instinct in him howled for the loss of Stiles, screamed for blood to answer his pain. He wanted to rip them apart. A sputtering cough drew his attention from behind. Stiles!</p><p>"Your... Your father was a murderer." Stiles choked out, Derek shuffled back until he could feel Stiles' hand on his calf. The slight reassuring touch enough to bring sense back to his mind. What the hell had Stiles done?</p><p> "He saved us all during the war!" Chris spoke through clenched teeth, but the sound of his heart spoke of a lie.</p><p> "No, he didn't. The Hale pack wanted to form a pact with your hunters to protect Beacon Hills, but instead he sent Kate to trap us in our home, and burn it down around us. We wanted peace." Derek puffed up, a low growl rumbling through his chest, Stiles used him like a pull bar to climb to his feet, leaning heavily against Derek for support. Peter put a hand on his back to steady him.</p><p> "It doesn't matter, you murdered him!" Allison yelled, pulling back the string of her bow.</p><p> "No! Ally!" Stiles held his hand up, but the arrow had already been unleashed. Just as it reached Derek it flashed, dropping uselessly to the ground, and sending a backlash of energy. Allison went wide eyed looking at the hole in her leg where the wound would have been on Derek. Stiles' face pinched as if it hurt him too.</p><p> "No one can fight here ever again. Any attack will only hurt those who unleashed it. We don't want to fight you. Please! Please just leave." Stiles' voice still ground out, sore, and now pinched with the pain of seeing his friend suffer.</p><p> "No! Chris, we can still kill them, it's a bluff!" Late snarled, pointing her gun at Derek's head, Peter smiled at her, putting himself in her line of fire.</p><p> "Oh, please, call our bluff." The sickly sweet cadence of his voice made Derek uneasy. Chris held a hand up.</p><p> "Fall back." He ordered, but she fired, the bullet clinking to the dirt without effect, and she fell back, lifeless.</p><p> "Kate! Damn it! Fall back!" Chris put his arm around Allison, dragging her away. Stiles collapsed against Derek. It wasn't over, but they had somewhere safe, they could carve out something good here.</p><p> "Stiles!" Derek scooped him up, crushing him against his chest, and kissing him breathless. Stiles laughed, weak, but giddy. He'd used too much magic.</p><p> "Can we go home. Dying is exhausting." Stiles joked, Derek didn't laugh, but Peter did. He would be okay, and now he knew he could get home. He would go home, but first sleep.</p><p>Stiles took the time over the next few days to copy over his grimoire to the weathered note books, detailing all the spells he'd already done, just in case his counter part wanted to do magic. Peter helped, his hand writing was nicer than Stiles'. The rest of them helped set up the spell. When Stiles said he was rested enough to cast it, Derek spent the entire night marking him with his teeth, and his scent.</p><p> "You could stay." He whispered, not for the first time. Stiles squeezed his hand while he carved the last rune into the earth with a stick. Boyd had helpfully pulled up the sod.</p><p> "I know, and I want to, I really do. You guys are... Your pack, and I love all of you. You especially, but I have to get back to my Dad, and the people who are worrying about me." Stiles tossed the stick aside, and pulled Derek into a kiss. Derek wrapped around him, letting the soft summer sun warm their embrace.</p><p> "He'll be me Derek." Stiles whispered against his neck. "He'll love you." He pulled back, carefully extracting himself from him before Stiles could start crying.</p><p> "Peter. Thank you, for all your help, for doing what no one else could, and for just showing me you can be a cool guy." Stiles held his arms open, and Peter happily stepped into the embrace. Stiles squeezed him tighter than he'd ever imagined he would.</p><p> "I'll teach your counterpart what I can, and keep your list of names. If any of them show up, they'll be welcome here." He patted his back, stepping away. Stiles nodded and looked at Lydia and Jackson standing together.</p><p> "Thanks for keeping him alive." She reached out, taking his hand, Stiles nodded, and Jackson scoffed. He was just so Jackson.</p><p> "Bye guys." He smiled Stiles turned to Isaac next.</p><p> "I'm gonna find you in my world." Stiles pointed, Isaac laughed, a wispy, tragic sort of noise, yanking Stiles against him.</p><p> "Your world is stupid." Erica sniffed, tugging Stiles straight from his embrace with Isaac to her. Stiles wrapped his arms around her.</p><p> "Yeah, it is. I'm going to miss you so much." Stiles tightened the hug with every bit of his puny human strength.</p><p> "Damn straight!" She pushed him towards Boyd, who hugged him so quickly Stiles almost missed it.</p><p> "Don't die." He clapped him on the shoulder. Stiles swiped at his eyes with the back of his hand, so much for not crying.</p><p> "You either." Then there was Scott. He looked at him, eyes already shining with unshed tears, Stiles pulled him in, pressing his forehead against his. Scott clapped his hand on the back of his neck.</p><p> "Thank you, for giving me a pack." Scott whispered , Stiles grinned, tears falling freely now. His eyes flicked over to where Derek stood, arms crossed, and his emotions hidden behind a stone faced mask. He looked so much like his Derek in that moment.</p><p> "Keep them safe for me buddy." He pulled him closer, exchanging a bone crushing hug while Scott nodded against him. Stiles took a moment to steal one last kiss from Derek before he moved to the center of the circle to start chanting.</p><p> </p><p>Stiles smiled, reaching out to thread his fingers with Derek's. He could get used to sleeping like this. He should probably find pants though, he didn't want Scott to be right. He would do everything he could to get Stiles back. He went to move, and suddenly he was falling butt naked into the grass. He was by that freaky tree, and Derek looked different as he stood over him. </p><p>He looked around, finding Scott, Jackson, and even Lydia staring at him from amongst the group encircling him. Scott had a gun at his hip, and a grin on his face.</p><p> "Am I back?" Stiles whispered, Scott pounced on him, pulling him into a crushing hug.</p><p> "It worked! Oh my God man, the other you was such a soft baby, but he was so smart too. He came up with the spell to get you back!" Scott shed his jacket , letting him use it to drape across his middle.</p><p> "When did we find Derek?" Stiles looked over at the concerned, and slightly constipated look on his face.</p><p> "You met my counter part I take it. You saved my life." Derek held a hand out to help him up, Stiles blushed, suddenly regretting not getting those pants sooner.</p><p> "Right back at you big guy." Stiles looked around the group, each one a verying expression of trepidation.</p><p> "You still stink." The woman he didn't recognize complained, the group shifted , clearly trying not to laugh.</p><p> "Still?" Stiles raised a brow at Derek, who looked down a bit sheepishly.</p><p> "Dude, you two were gross!" Scott rolled his eyes, getting back up to chuck Stiles in the shoulder.</p><p> "Yeah? You want to keep being gross, because I'm kind of attached to that face?" Stiles looked Derek in the chest, he laughed, hooking his arm around Stiles.</p><p> "You already smell like you're mine." He smirked, Stiles nipped at his lower lip, getting a breathy little moan.</p><p> "Oh yeah, I like this Derek way better." Stiles chuckled, he had a million questions, and no idea who three of these people were, but he had Scott back, and this Derek seemed to want him too, so maybe the apocalypse would turn out okay.</p><p> "Okay, first pants, then introductions." The group laughed, even Jackson. He might not have his Dad, but these people wanted him there, unlike the other world. He belonged here. It was good to be home.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Stiles expected to be in the woods where the spell had started, or maybe by the Nemeton. He did not expect to pop in laying under the covers in Derek's bed, next to Derek, who was spooning him, while naked! This couldn't be right! His Derek was in no way into Stiles, which meant this wasn't his Derek. He was in a different world, but not his world, which meant he sent another Stiles to an apocalypse world. Shit!</p><p>He tried to wiggle out from under the iron bar of Derek's arm, but he clutched him tighter. Oh, no! No! If this Derek woke up he would realize he wasn't the Stiles he went to bed with, and then there will be claws, and throat ripping. He could not have a panic attack right now! He looked down, pleased to see he still had everything on, and tried to slowly lift Derek's arm.</p><p> "What's got you so excited?" Derek mumbled, shifting up to kiss him. Derek's wolf woke first, reveling in the scent of pine, and earth mixed with Stiles, and sex. He tasted of morning breath, but that didn't matter, because he was missing Stiles. Then the rest of him woke up, and realized he didn't smell of soap, or pop tarts, or any of the other little things. He jerked back, looking down at him with wide eyes.</p><p> "Uh, I gotta go." Stiles flopped out of the bed, stumbling over his own feet as he hurried towards the exit of the loft. He spotted his keys hanging on the hook, and he snatched them on his way past.</p><p>"Stiles!" Derek yelled after him. Okay, so Derek still lived in the loft, and he seemed to have his jeep in this world, which fell under the category of good things. There she was, his baby, alive and well! He scrambled into it, the seat hugging him like an old friend. A phone charger. He fumbled his phone out onto the passenger seat. Phone service! Yes! This world was definitely a step in the right direction. He popped open his glove box.</p><p>The bottle rattled as his adderall fell out. Oh sweet focus pills! He snatched it up, but hesitated before he even got it open. If this wasn't his world he would have to go back to the apocalypse world to get home. He could use, well Derek, apparently to focus on the Stiles they lost here, and get him back, then he could use Scott to get his Stiles back. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought to use an anchor for the spell.</p><p>Scott! Did Scott exist here? Was Scott still his best friend? He looked down at his slowly charging phone. One way to find out. He started up his baby, and dialed Scott.</p><p> "What? If you called to apologize I don't want to hear it." Scott answered with his mouth voice, which definitely meant he wanted to hear an apology, but Stiles had no idea what for.</p><p> "Scott, please tell me we are still best friends in this world, because I just escaped a literal apocalypse, and I really need to talk to someone!" Stiles really needed this to work. He already got all smoochy with a second strange Derek, one more, and he'd have a hat trick. He needed to talk this out, and the whole town looked the same, so maybe Deaton would still be around.</p><p> "Oh my God Stiles! Is that you, like the real you, not like apocalypse Stiles 2.0?" Scott could be heard nearly fumbling his phone. Apocalypse Stiles? No. This couldn't be the right world, he'd been in Derek's bed.</p><p> "Yeah, maybe, if this is the right world. I need like mondo advice , and maybe a cheeseburger. Is Deaton still around?" Stiles pulled into the parking lot of the vet clinic. It looked the same as it always had.</p><p> "Of course, I'll meet you there." Scott hung up, because Scott was the best, and understood this was most definitely not a phone conversation. He took a minute to just sit in his jeep with music playing. He had missed music so much. Unfortunately he couldn't hide in his jeep forever, so when Scott pulled in on his bike he got out.</p><p> "Stiles! Man, I missed you so much! You are so much better than the other Stiles, and oh man, he messed up your internship, but my Dad got you waitlisted for next year." Scott slammed into him like a squid, all arms, and squishing.</p><p> "My what? Oh, right, man I forgot that was even a thing. I don't think you can blame him, his life was nuts. I popped in to like feral Derek alpha trying to eat my face. Okay, okay, down boy. We need to go talk to Deaton." Stiles wiggled out of Scott's bone crushing hug, Scott pouted, but let him go.</p><p> "Really? I feel kind of bad, we were sort of in the middle of a fight because of that. I mean I would have forgiven him, but it wasn't cool. Am I a dick here?" Scott scuffed his foot against the gravel like a little kid.</p><p> "I mean I'm not mad at you, but I don't really have the authority there. Scott I'm worried this isn't the right world, like I'm not the Stiles that belongs here, because when I woke up I was with a very naked Derek, who definitely kissed me before I ran for my life." Stiles said while they went inside. Deaton wasn't at the front desk, but that was pretty normal.</p><p> "No, this is the right place. Other Stiles kind of jumped Derek on day one, and Derek acted like he didn't want him, but yesterday they were making out on the lacrosse field, so..." Scott explained, Stiles went a little pale. Derek liked other Stiles? Why? Why did Derek like him, and not you know him. The prime Stiles, Stiles of his world. What did apoca-Stiles have that he didn't? Ugh, being with other Derek was going to make his life so sad now. Knowing how good that could be, but never having it, this sucked.</p><p> "Stiles. You are... Yourself again?" Deaton stopped as soon as he saw him, cocking his head slightly.</p><p> "Yep, that's me prime Stiles. Now with added magic upgrades. Speaking of magic, I have like two hundred questions." Stiles gestured to his outer ear since they had the only readily visible rune scar on them. Deaton rose a brow at the marks, moving closer to examine them.</p><p> "These are quite good. Did you come up with this on your own? What did you use as a catalyst?" Deaton pressed his finger into Stiles' temple to feel the scar below the slowly growing hair on the side of his head. Stiles swatted his hand away, grabbing the bottom of his shirt to get this over with all at once. He dropped his tee, and flannel on the desk, doing a little spin.</p><p> "Alpha blood, copper, and a spark, ash, and gun powder, copper wire threaded through the skin, and technically my own death for this one." Stiles gestured to the large, complicated rune set carved into his back, still red around the edges from the healing process.</p><p> "That one is actually the one I'm worried about." Stiles kept his back to Deaton, but Scott looked horrified. He'd lost a lot of weight, and gained a decent amount of muscle in the apocalypse, but he'd also got pretty roughed up. He knew his ribs could be seen through his skin, and that his arms still had the burn scar, electric burns on the other, and more uncomfortably the deep root scars up across his shoulders, and down to his elbows from where the Nemeton tried to pull him down. They weren't even physical. They would never heal.</p><p> "Hey, Scott. I'm okay, I'm home, it's all okay." Stiles clapped him on the shoulder to snap him out of his shock. He shook his head, while Deaton hovered around Stiles' back.</p><p> "Sorry man, you just look so wrecked. You probably shouldn't show this to your Dad until you put some weight back on. Oh, yeah, that reminds me. Your Dad totally doesn't know you were gone. Other Stiles didn't want him to know because he was worried about his heart. After the whole FBI fail I was going to tell him, but then you called." Scott tried to make his face go back to normal, but his eyes kept tracking down over all the damage he'd taken.</p><p> "He's not gonna love that, but hey, I've got a perfect scape goat since no one will ever see other Stiles again." Stiles had to stop watching Scott pity him, so he looked around at the office posters with their little charts, and cartoon animals. He missed the woods. He missed the musty old train depot even. Maybe Derek would let him stay in the old Hale house. He didn't think he could sleep in his bed right now. Derek...</p><p> "This is a very interesting set of runes. You said you died to catalyze it?" Deaton pulled him out of his thoughts.</p><p> "Yeah. I needed the Nemeton to be active in order to get home, and activating the Nemeton takes a person dying, or at least that's the only way I know, like what happened with Paige. Obviously I couldn't just kill someone, so I created this protection spell for Beacon Hills that I thought would make it easier to pull me out. It's tied to Derek's pack territory, or it was, now I'm not sure. I mean is it tied to Scott, or did I leave the spell behind, or something else I didn't even think of. I really hope the spell still works over there, because they really needed it." Stiles craned around, trying to look at his own back.</p><p> "The rune pattern is incredibly intricate, I'm surprised you were able to create something this cohesive. I imagine these scars are a result of it's activation. You're lucky to be alive. I am relatively certain the spell will have stayed with the alpha, however it will definitely have traveled with you as well." Deaton moved his hand along the air just over his back, the energy of the spell making his skin tingle.</p><p> "Okay, so it's tied to Scott now, and the pack territory?" He grinned at Scott, who tried to look excited, but didn't really know what that meant for him.</p><p> "No. Stiles you are a pack emissary. You made yourself that when you tied your life force to the Hale pack. The Hale territory is old, and it still runs through this land. You will need to set perimeters for the effects, but when you came here where the Hale spark has been given up to save a life, you became the alpha of the Hale pack Stiles. You rekindled the spark with your spell." Deaton said, Stiles tilted his head with bug eyed disbelief.</p><p> "What? No, how? I'm human!" Stiles squeaked, Scott looked almost as concerned as him. Deaton have him a sympathetic smile.</p><p> "Yes, a human emissary, capable of channeling the powers of the pack. This spell let's the land protect the pack, which at present is you. The larger the pack the stronger you would become, and the larger the territory could become. I'm not certain the spell will be as effective here, but I assure you, you are still human. You will be able to give the bite in a sort of round about way. I can find the spell, though I suspect that won't be your highest priority for some time." Deaton moved away, taking a picture of his back with his phone. Stiles spun around, giving him his best you're insane look.</p><p> "No I don't want to run around turning people! I don't want to be an alpha! I didn't even mean to be an emissary! I just wanted to get home! How is this even possible?" Stiles snagged his shirt off the desk, yanking it on hard enough to stick his head through the sleeve, and have to spend the next minute wrestling himself out of it.</p><p> "It's not entirely unheard of, though it is quite rare. The only cases I've seen have been through the death of an entire pack. Had Derek not survived the fire with his sister it may have happened to me. I'll put together a list of powers, and side effects of what's happening to you, but I think for now the best thing for you to do is rest. The spell you cast was intensely powerful. Had you not been an emissary you would not have been able to accomplish it on your own." Deaton looked down at his phone, still examining the spell on Stiles back.</p><p> "Good, thank you, that's very reassuring, and in no way cryptic, and frustrating." Stiles threw his hands up, and huffed out of the building. He likes having someone to ask questions, but he didn't miss the riddles, and half answers Deaton seemed so fond of.</p><p> "Stiles, are you okay?" Scott touched his shoulder to stop him from getting in his car.</p><p> "No! I mean, I'm fine, I guess, but this is a lot. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I'm worried about the pack in the other world, and I'm confused about the whole Derek everything. I just... I want to see my Dad. I'll call you tomorrow okay?" Scott nodded, pulling him into another hug before he let him leave. Stiles found himself sitting in his jeep, just staring at his house. All that fire damage, and plant growth seemed like a bad dream sitting there. </p><p> "Stiles?" His Dad poked his head out the door, holding a microwave meal in one hand. Stiles laughed, wiping his tears on the back of his hand. </p><p> "You shouldn't be eating that." His voice was tight as he slid his door shut to go inside. His Dad rolled his eyes, holding the door open for him.</p><p> "Well, I've been missing my chef. Is this about the internship?" He put his hand on Stiles back as he went through the door. Stiles threw his arms around his Dad, knocking the meal on the floor with a splat. His Dad didn't hesitate to hug him back, and Stiles couldn't stop the sob that shook from his body.</p><p> "Wow, hey, I'm here son, it's okay. Tell me what's going on." He whispered, rubbing his back gently. Stiles sniffed, trying to get a hold of himself.</p><p> "I... I'm sorry, this is so dumb. These are-- they're happy tears. It's kind of a long story." Stiles let him go, trying to wipe his face on his shirt, cringing at the slimy patch left on it. His Dad looked down at the mess of his dinner.</p><p> "Well you killed my food, so why don't you explain while we cook something different." Stiles hurried to try and clean up before his Dad did it.</p><p> "That would be really good." Stiles stayed, and explained everything that happened, he left out little details, like his nearly dying two or three times, but it felt good to talk about it all.</p><p> "So you are a magical alpha of the Hale territory, but not a wolf, and you were dating Derek, but not this Derek, and I was gone, but I'm not now, so that's why you're so happy to see me?" His Dad looked a little bit lost, but he understood the important parts. Stiles moved his fingers lovingly over the little water ring on the table from where he set his sodas when they watched the game every Sunday.</p><p> "I mean, yeah, that's a lot of it. Am I really living with Derek?" Stiles grabbed a curly fry from the pan, they hadn't really bothered with plates.</p><p> "I'm afraid so. You never officially moved in, but you haven't slept here since that night. Do you plan to sleep here tonight? " His Dad put his arm around his shoulders, giving them a little squeeze.</p><p> "No, I mean if that's cool with you, I feel... I don't know, closed in. I miss all the green. For all the apocalypse of that world, parts of it were really nice. I actually thought I might call an impromptu pack meeting to tell them everything all at once, with the added bonus of smoars, and campfire songs." Stiles smiled up at him, his Dad ruffled his hair, leaning over to kiss the top of his head. It felt so nice to have him there.</p><p> "Whatever helps you son, just remember that you always have a home here if you ever feel like coming back. I miss you. I knew you'd move out at eighteen, but I thought I'd get a little warning." His Dad jostled him playfully, Stiles sank lower into his Dad's arms, letting himself have this moment.</p><p> "I know, sorry we live on a hell mouth." Stiles teased, his Dad frowned, leaning his head to see his face.</p><p> "That's not a real thing is it?" Stiles laughed, getting up, he figured he could at least pack some actual camping stuff this time.</p><p> "No, it's from a TV show." He pulled his bag out of the closet, it turned out that camping was not really something the pack was super excited about on short notice. Some of them hadn't even known he was gone, which felt kind of crapy. He didn't call Derek. Scott, and Malia would have come out, but he didn't really want to listen to them bone. He was over her, but that's still a little much.</p><p>He didn't mind though. Walking through the woods alone at night didn't feel so dangerous looking through Derek's eyes. Maybe that's why he always lurked at night. He ran his hands over the trees as he moved aimlessly through them. He could feel them, growing strong on his territory. It hadn't felt so strong with Derek as the alpha, but now it seemed like roots moved out of the way of his feet.</p><p>He found himself at the burnt out shell of the Hale house. Ivy had begun to creep up the sides, and storms had blown leaves back inside where the Windows were broken, or the wall had burned away. It looked exactly the same. He could almost imagine Erica would trip him as he mounted the stairs to go inside. The boards creeked loudly under his weight, and that felt right too.</p><p>This was the heart of his territory. He could feel it, like the branches of a tree, spiraling out from him. He went to the room where Derek had first kissed him, brushing his fingers through the thick layer of dust. He was home, but he missed his pack. </p><p>He should call Isaac, had anyone checked on him since he left? He had such a big heart, Stiles hoped he didn't feel as alone as Stiles did without Boyd, Erica, Jackson, and Lydia all crammed into the train depot with him, and Derek. Lydia was here, he should call her. He looked down at his phone. Two a.m. already. He didn't call.</p><p>He laid his sleeping bag down, and hugged his backpack to his chest to try and sleep. It didn't come, but he stayed anyway. He stayed until the sun started to cut through the trees, and exhaustion finally pulled him under.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Derek sat helplessly under his covers as Stiles ran out the door. It took him a full minute to be able to go back over what just happened. Stiles had been dressed, not wearing a shirt, but fully dressed, shoes and all. They'd left fresh turned earth, and grass behind in his bed. He'd smelled like sex, and Derek. Hadn't he? Did he smell that from Stiles, or the bedding wrapped around them?</p><p>No, he'd had a scar on his ear. Stiles didn't have scars there. Neither Stiles did. At least they didn't before he left. Had that been him, or some other Stikes. He really couldn't deal with a new version of Stiles right now.</p><p>'Is Stiles back, or do we have a new problem?' Derek text Deaton, because he certainly couldn't call Stiles. He slid his feet off the edge of the bed, sagging into his palms. How could this has happened? </p><p> 'Yes, this is the original Stiles, though he has been through quite a lot.' Deaton text him back twenty minutes later while Derek paced his kitchen chewing at the edge of a pop tarts he didn't really want to eat.</p><p> "Fuck!" Derek threw the offending pastry at the wall, raining bits of raspberry gel covered tart across his kitchen. He had never wanted Stiles to think he was taking advantage of him, that's why he'd never made a move in the first place. He needed to fix this. If he even could.</p><p>He dressed quickly, and sped to Deaton's clinic, hoping he would still be there. He'd taken the jeep, which held with the theory that he was in fact their Stiles. This world's Stiles. Stiles did not belong with him. He'd run when he'd kissed him.</p><p>Derek touched his lips as he parked. He'd kissed Stiles. The one he'd been dreaming about kissing since that day in his bed room with Stiles pinned against his door. He hadn't even taken the time to enjoy it. Once again the jeep was gone, but he decided to go see what Deaton knew anyway.</p><p> "You missed them, he went to see his father I believe." Deaton had his laptop out, and seemed to be compiling information on something fascinating, because he didn't look up.</p><p> "How was he?" Derek rubbed the back of his neck, the other Stiles made it sound like surviving his world would be next to impossible.</p><p> "Physically fine, perhaps slightly malnourished. Emotionally I can't say. Given that he woke up in your bed I feel you would likely have a higher authority on that." Deaton finally spared him a glance, Derek felt like something to be scrapped off the bottom of someone's shoe.</p><p> "It wasn't like that." Derek whispered, Deaton nodded, turning back to his computer.</p><p> "A great many things have changed for him as well. It might be wise to speak to him yourself." Deaton dismissed him, and Derek happily took the hint. He went back to his car. He couldn't disturb Stiles at the Sheriff's house, his father would have been dead in the world he came from. He would need time. He decided to go home, and see if Stiles wanted to speak to him. He could try again tomorrow, once he'd settled in again.</p><p>He sat on his bed, fully dressed, wallowing in the smell of Stiles, and the brief life a different version of him had wanted to share. He'd always wanted Stiles to share his space, his life, but he'd never wanted to hurt him. He had somehow managed to hurt him without even working up the courage to truly have him.</p><p>He didn't move until the sun had been up for a couple hours. He knew the Sheriff would be up for work by now, and he was fairly certain he'd lose his nerve if he didn't go soon. He hesitated in the driveway, not entirely sure Stiles would want to see him.</p><p> "He's not here son. He went camping with the pack. Though that may have been an excuse. He's parked out by the reserve either way." The Sheriff leaned in his window, dressed for his shift. How long had Derek been sitting there?</p><p> "Thank you." Derek could hardly meet his eye, the Sheriff chuckled, patting him on the shoulder as he stood.</p><p> "There was another version of you where he went too. I don't think you have as much to worry about as you think." The Sheriff walked to his cruiser, trailing his words of wisdom like he could read Derek's mind. </p><p>It took Derek a while to find where Stiles had parked in the preserve, the barest hint of early morning mist still clung to the low places in the woods while he followed Stiles' scent. Now, out in the green he could say for sure that his scent clung to Stiles, and mingled with his own, or maybe the scent of this other Derek. To his great surprise he wound up, at the burnt out Hale house.</p><p> "I know dude, I miss you too. Like I said, things are different now. If you don't want to be part of anybody's pack that's cool, I mean you've probably got this omega thing down, but there are other options now. No one is going to pressure you if you come visit. Isaac, come on. We love you man. Yeah? Sweet! I'll pick you up at the airport, just send me the details. Okay, later man. " Derek froze in the shadows of the woods when he heard Stiles' voice. He didn't know they still spoke to Isaac. Derek kept tabs on him, but he did so quietly. He had failed him as an alpha, it made it hard to face him.</p><p>Stiles walked out, in only a pair of sweats, slung low on his hips while he wiped himself down with a wet cloth. His hand paused over a red mark just above his collar bone, his eyes losing focus. Derek wanted to announce himself, but he didn't dare break his moment of peace. </p><p>He went stiff, the hand on his shoulder moving to touch his temple. His eyes flashed alpha red, and landed on him. Derek froze like prey under the watchful eye of an alpha, except Stiles didn't smell like a wolf. </p><p> "Derek? I ah, I didn't expect anybody to find me out here." Stiles blinked, and his eyes returned to their chocolate brown.</p><p> "You're an alpha." It wasn't a question, Derek could feel it pulling at him. He wanted to drop to his knees, and bare his neck in supplication, because no alpha could ever rule him the way Stiles could.</p><p> "Neat hu, I thought they'd be blue now, but I guess I got a little more wolf than I expected. Deaton says human alphas aren't unheard of. My whole pack is gone, so as the emissary I get the ruby reds. You ah, you don't have to explain yesterday. I didn't mean to show up in your bed. You probably didn't even get to say goodbye. I had a whole, well not party, but we had strawberries, and Lydia made streamers out of vines. Erica even gave me a kiss goodbye the night before." Stiles reached up to fiddle with the raised tissue across his chest, once again far away from where he stood.</p><p> "Erica? She was alive?" Derek whispered , Stiles grinned, moving to sit on the stairs.</p><p> "Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and you, their fearless leader. You were all there. You were under some kind of leashing spell, I broke it when you tried to eat my face. You were very friendly after that. Scott, and Jackson joined your pack eventually too, and with Jackson so to comes Lydia. It was nice. Rustic, but nice. The way it should have been. We lived in the train depot." Stiles hardly looked at him as he moved to sit beside him on the warped step to the porch. It groaned under his added weight.<br/> "After all the stuff you said about the train depot?" He raised a brow at him, Stiles laughed, full bellied, if not a bit hysterical.</p><p> "That was the first thing I thought when we moved in! It was one of the nicer places in Beacon Hills though, after the fire bomb. Hopefully you draw in more people now that the Nemeton is up and running. It's meant to be a beacon after all. I think you could make it safe for people. I think that would be nice for you." Stiles trailed off, touching the mark on his collar bone again, Derek frowned.</p><p> "You mean him?" Derek tried to keep his eyes on the branches as the shifted with the summer breeze rather than watch Stiles.</p><p> "Eh, yes, and no. He was you Derek, a little more animalistic, but I think Gerard did that to him. I don't miss him when you're here, and I don't miss that Scott when I'm with this one. I do miss the people who aren't here though. Dad... He wasn't there. You probably know that. I'm sure Stiles told you. We found his badge and gun in the ashes of the precinct. I didn't, Scott did. I couldn't bring myself to go there. I gave them to Derek to give to him. I didn't feel right keeping them." Stiles picked at a splinter of wood coming off the banister until he could throw it out towards the woods.</p><p> "He told me his Dad died getting people out of Beacon Hills. Saving people." Derek said, Stiles looked over at him, his eyes looked so much older than before he left.</p><p> "Did you love him?" Stiles whispered, Derek could hear his heart racing. He wondered if Stiles had the power to hear his matching the beat.</p><p> "I don't think so, not when I already had feelings for someone else." Derek managed, Stiles nodded, knocking his knee into Derek's.</p><p> "You're a better kisser than your other self. He didn't really have that slow, languid touch down, too ravenous." Stiles said, Derek looked over at him, completely at a loss for words. That explained his scent.</p><p> "Did you love him?" Derek managed to choke the words past his surprise. The birds chirped in the long stretch of silence, swooping down to roost in the bones of the old house.</p><p> "I said it to him once, but I didn't say it for him. I said it for you, and he knew that right away." Stiles couldn't muster up the courage to look at Derek when he said it, but Derek couldn't look away. The sun splashed over his freckled face like the palest gold. His skin had a touch of a tan now, where the scars didn't bleach out the colour.</p><p> "You did?" Derek shifted closer, Stiles rolled his eyes.</p><p> "I've only been in love with you for three years you doof. I never thought I was your type, but now I think, I mean at least one of me is your type, so maybe..." Derek cut him off with a desperate kiss. Stiles chuckled against his lips, shifting up into his lap to get a better angle.</p><p> "There's that ravenous kiss I know and love." Stiles pulled back, nuzzling into the nape of his neck, scent marking him the way his other self often did to him. Derek growled, biting down hard on the mark over his collar bone, eradicating any trace of his other self's kiss. Leave it to Derek to be competitive with himself.</p><p> "I love you Stiles. I should have kissed you on your birthday, and kept you there on my couch." Derek moved his mouth over every inch of Stiles he could reach. Stiles groaned, rocking his hips against the solid mass of Derek.</p><p> "I completely agree, I think you'll have to find some way to make it up to me, eek!" Stiles squealed when Derek stood up with him still in his lap, walking them into the house without breaking their kiss.</p><p> "I have been waiting three years to touch you." Derek growled, laying him down on the sleeping bag.</p><p> "Well that was dumb, I would definitely have let you take my manly virginity if you weren't such a sour wolf." Stiles nipped at his neck, setting him on edge, making every touch burn into his skin, fanning the flame inside him. Derek sagged against him, pressing his hips into the hard length of his mate.</p><p> "Shut up." His voice took on the thick baritone of his beta shift. Stiles groaned, turning on his wolf sight. He wanted to hear every little moan Derek made.</p><p> "Is that any way to talk to an alpha?" Stiles teased, Derek pulled back, looking into his crimson eyes.</p><p> "My alpha." He bared his neck to him, Stiles let out a pathetic whimper, snaking forward to bite his neck, sucking at the tender skin until Derek had a dark purple mark to tell the world where his loyalties lay. </p><p>Derek shucked off his shirt, dipping his hand under the waist band of Stiles' sweatpants. Stiles wriggled out out them, kicking wildly to free his feet. He tried to get up on his knees, but Derek held him down with a firm hand on his chest.</p><p> "You want me to top, because I thought..." Derek trailed off, undoing his belt. Seller's brain short circuited, only able to watch while Derek stood up, stripping down to show off the little silver tip of the plug he'd used the night before in hopes of morning sex. Stiles hooked his legs around Derek's knees, pulling him down.</p><p> "Have you been walking around like that since I left your bed? Do you have any idea how hot that is? I want... I don't even know, my brain is incapable of thought. How do you want me to take you, because my head might literally explode if I have to pick, if you know what I mean?" Stiles tried to waggle his eyebrows, only managing to look ill. Derek chuckled, moving over him, with a packet of lube in hand. </p><p> "Let's start simple, we've got all the time in the world." Derek sank down on to him once the warm lube had been slicked over their skin. Stiles groaned, he'd never gotten to top with Derek, and feeling his cock slide into him over and over, making Derek whimper, and moan was more than he could bare. Stiles came hard, spilling into him. Derek smirked, watching him fall apart while he stroked himself, painting his pleasure across Stiles' chest. </p><p>Stiles shifted up, pushing Derek on to his back, only pulling out when he had no choice. Derek cocked a questioning brow as Stiles ducked down to work his tongue into him. </p><p> "Stiles!" Derek cried out, arching up off the dust covered floor. Stiles grinned, moving up to kiss him, still tasting of cum. Derek pressed into the kiss, working his tongue into Stiles' mouth. Stiles collapsed beside him with a cheeky grin.</p><p> "I thought you might like that." He worked his fingers through the wet patch Derek left on him, licking the finger clean.</p><p> "You're killing me." Derek growled, wrapping himself around Stiles. He nuzzled happily into his arms.</p><p> "I want everyone to know we're pack, bonded beyond just friends. You're my... I mean, if you wanted, I probably shouldn't just presume, because you know we've only technically been together for like an hour, but if you wanted..." </p><p> "You're my mate Stiles." Derek whispered against the top of his head, raking his claws gently over his scalp. Stiles hummed his approval.</p><p> "My wolf has known since the moment I met you. " Derek let his eyes drift shut, but after a moment Stiles shifted to look down at him.</p><p> "You know you talk more now, did living with me finally break you down?" Stiles kissed his cheek, Derek nodded, earning a kiss on his other cheek.</p><p> "I kind of had an idea, and I don't know if you're going to like it, and obviously we don't have to, but..." Derek opened his eyes to scowl at him.</p><p> "Right, okay, so I thought, I don't know if you can feel it or not, but this is the center of the Hale territory, which I guess makes sense, but I really wanted to stay here, and I thought, maybe if it's okay with you we could fix it up. I thought it would be nice to have a pack sort of den you know. A place where the whole pack can live, once I have one. Hopefully Isaac will join, we'll see. What do you think? We don't have to." Stiles had started to fidget, even laying down he could seem restless.</p><p> "I think it's about time." Derek whispered , looking up at the heat scared boards that let water leak in on rainy days. The wind blew through the house, making it groan, and shower them with dust.</p><p> "Okay, so we've got a den, I've got an insanely hot boyfriend, the town is magically safer, and even if I can't leave for more than one moon cycle, I honestly don't think I'd want to. Yeah, yeah, this is good. I have so many plans, I want to be a PI, and like solve supernatural crime, because, you know, obviously I can't be FBI if I can't travel. This is gonna be so awesome!" Stiles flipped back down, finally letting himself really sleep.</p><p> Turns out Peter, and Isaac both wanted to join his pack, the Peter thing surprised him, but that's okay. They were a good pack, and once Peter put him in contact with the other alphas, like a proper pack it didn't take long for him to be the guy to go to for a problem. He helped people, just like his Dad, and some of them joined his pack. His life was in fact pretty awesome.</p><p>~The End~</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>That's it folks. Stiles is the magical law of the land now, maybe less people will die if they have a legitimate form of law enforcement in the supernatural world.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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